Thecharmofchinese

Confucius Institute opens a world of opportunities for foreign students of Chinese language

In Cameroon, Confucius Institute has built cooperative relationships with many local Chinese enterprises to help excellent students get internship opportunities and be employed in these enterprises.

When Amadou Thera stepped on the stage and started live webcasting from the Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Center, he immediately caught the attention of Chinese and foreign visitors alike, who were all eyes and hears for the young man.

The 26-year-old university student from Mali was one of the four hosts of a webcasting program aimed at covering the 11th Global Confucius Institute Conference, which was held on December 10-11, in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The annual conference is organized by Confucius Institute Headquarters, a Chinese public institution committed to promoting Chinese language worldwide. More than 2,200 delegates attended the conference, including university presidents and representatives of Confucius Institutes from 140 countries and regions.

Apart from the Malian’s friendly demeanor, what really charmed the Chinese audience - which burst into applause many times during his presentation - was his almost perfect mastery of the Chinese language. For that, Thera can thank the Confucius Institute in his home country, where he first started to learn Chinese some 10 years ago. teaching sites in two of Zambia’s well-known public universities - Copperbelt University and Mulungushi University.

“Zambia’s education authority has just approved the Chinese syllabus. Chinese is very popular in our country. There are 19 Chinese teaching schools in Zambia,” said Sande Ngalande, Zambian Director of the Confucius Institute at University of Zambia. “Chinese has gained popularity in Zambian primary schools. The country’s secondary schools require all students to learn a foreign language, either French or Portuguese, and now Chinese has also been added.”

Thousands of kilometers from Zambia, in Cameroon, a similar enthusiasm for Chinese language is also visible. The Confucius Institute at University of Yaounde II was established in 2007, and has been growing rapidly since then. As of November 2016, the institute had taught more than 13,000 students over the years.

“Chinese is very popular in Cameroon. Public high schools in Cameroon have included Chinese language education into their national education curriculum. A total of 80 secondary schools in Cameroon have opened Chinese classes,” said Yu Guoyang, Chinese Director of the local Confucius Institute.

According to statistics from Confucius Institute Headquarters, China had established 511 Confucius Institutes and opened 1,073 Confucius Classrooms in 140 countries as of 2016, benefiting a cumulative total of 2.1 million students worldwide. In 2016 alone, more than 240 Confucius Institutes in 78 countries provided courses on Chinese culture, such as Chinese traditional medicine and taijiquan, to 350,000 enrolled students.