Botswana kids eager to learn Chinese

Assistant teacher tells her students the language will open opportunities for them

GABORONE — Excitement and joy could be felt as students at Legae English Medium School in Gaborone, Botswana, greeted their teacher Goitseone Ishmael with the Chinese phrase ni hao, which translates to “hello” in English, before she began her Chinese language lesson.

“Today we are going to begin our class by watching a Chinese movie,” she said, and the students jumped up and down with joy. Some of the students asked if it stars the well-known actor Jackie Chan. Finally she managed to get them to settle down.

Ishmael, also known as Liu Weiwei in Chinese, started her job as an assistant Chinese teacher at Legae English Medium School in 2022. Now she teaches around 350 students in 14 classes per week from Standard 3 to Standard 6.

After graduating from university with an associate degree in business information systems, Ishmael was encouraged by her sister to enroll in the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana (CIUB) in 2017.

“During my study at CIUB, I developed a strong interest in the Chinese language, culture and lifestyle, especially in August 2018 when I set foot in China for the first time through the Summer Camp run by CIUB,” she told Xinhua during an interview.

Ishmael went to study at Shanghai Normal University in China in 2019. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, she could not go back to China to finish the last semester and ended up completing it online and graduating while in Botswana.

As an assistant Chinese teacher, Ishmael’s work includes teaching students Chinese songs and teaching them paper-cutting and how to make lanterns. She also helps Zhang Lu, the only Chinese teacher from CIUB, to teach the Chinese language.

“Teaching a language is really interesting and kids are always interested in learning more, especially about the Chinese culture, the food, and they ask a lot of questions during my lesson,” she said, adding that most of the students have wanted to visit China since she started teaching them.

According to Ishmael, people in Botswana can benefit a lot from learning the Chinese language. She said that in China everything is convenient, like transportation and payment methods, so they can learn and see how they can improve services in Botswana. People there can also go teach English in China because of the demand for English teachers.

The 33-year-old teacher encourages people to consider a career in the Chinese language. “It is not only for communication, it will open another opportunity for them. There are different types of jobs that one can do after learning Chinese, like working as a Chinese language teacher, a translator or interpreter,” she said.

Basel Ncaagae, head of Legae English Medium School, said Chinese was introduced there full-time in 2018. As a result of the large number of students expressing an interest in learning Chinese, the school implemented a full-time Chinese language study program called Confucius Classes.

Class content includes teaching the children greetings in Chinese, counting numbers in Chinese, introducing themselves in Chinese, their age, and talking about the weather and time. Kids also participate in the Primary School Chinese Bridge where the winner gets an opportunity to travel to China and represent the school.