They pass the warmth of Chinese in their hometown

In countries all over the world, local Chinese language teachers use their enthusiasm and practical actions to promote the development of local Chinese language education, let more international friends understand China, know China, and contribute to the development of friendship between China and the rest of the world.

Creating a localized Chinese language teaching model

Ferdinand, the first local Chinese language teacher in Burundi, has had a dream in his heart since the moment he really became a local Chinese language teacher --- to become an excellent international Chinese language education expert.

Ferdinand (first from left) teaching in Chinese class (Photo by Bohai University)

When it comes to the connection with Chinese, it goes back to 2012. Ferdinand, as a freshman majoring in Computer and Electrical Engineering at the University of Burundi, enrolled in a Chinese language class with the idea of mastering one more language and having one more choice when seeking jobs. After being exposed to the Chinese language, Ferdinand became fascinated by the language and the Chinese culture. He worked hard to learn Chinese and received a scholarship to study in China.

While studying Chinese in China, Ferdinand was exposed to many excellent traditional Chinese educational thoughts, which not only benefited him in practice, but also made him extremely interested in these educational thoughts and desire to bring them back to his home country. After graduating and returning to Burundi, Ferdinand realized his dream of teaching Chinese.

Teaching Chinese is a top priority for Ferdinand. Through his own experience of learning Chinese, Ferdinand has a unique understanding of how to overcome obstacles to learn Chinese well. If the learner is a secondary school student, he will focus on the development of the student's interest in learning Chinese, using more pictures to explain, and encouraging the student to watch more Chinese movies and read children's books in Chinese. At the same time, combining with his hobbies, he also grafted music and physical education contents into Chinese language teaching, which have stimulated students' interest.

Ferdinand said his biggest dream is to combine the characteristics of Chinese language learning and Chinese language teaching, to create a Chinese language teaching model suitable for promotion in Burundi.

Opening a window to know China

The crude classroom had no heating or air conditioning, not even enough tables and chairs, and the cold winter wind blew in from time to time. Farzana Hashi, a native Chinese teacher from Ibn Sina University in Afghanistan, stood at the center of the podium while students listened attentively and exchanged ideas between them from time to time.

Farzana Hashi (first from the right) giving a language lesson to her classmates
 (Photo by Rahmat Alizada)

Farzana is one of the few female Chinese language teachers in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. She taught Chinese, introduced Chinese culture, realized her personal value and changed her destiny.

"When I was a child, I dreamed of visiting China." Farzana said she was impressed by the monuments and beautiful scenery of China that she saw on TV when she was a child. Since then, she has always longed for Chinese culture and looked forward to gaining a deeper understanding of China.

In 2013, Farzana was admitted to Kabul University, where she was able to pursue her Chinese dream. Farzana recalled that she was often fascinated by the beautiful sentences made up of Chinese characters in class, reading them over and over again, trying to understand the relationship between the characters and sentences, and longing for the day when she could stand on the podium and share this knowledge with her compatriots, opening a window for them to know China.

In 2016, Farzana was selected to be the first female Chinese language teacher at the University of Ibn Sina, Afghanistan, through a series of tests and interviews based on her excellent performance.

On the podium, slim Farzana wrote down Chinese characters "今天(today)", "明天(tomorrow)", "未来(future)", one after another on the whiteboard with a delicate strokes, seemingly writing the Chinese dream that belonged to herself and her students. 

"Chinese will open more doors for you."

Ten years ago, Li Mo (Chinese name), a young Mexican boy, walked into a Chinese language classroom in ignorance, but never imagined that he would become "Mr. Li" on the podium in the future.

To realize his dream, Li Mo studied Chinese for three years and then went to Beijing Language and Culture University for three years to further his studies. Furthermore, he came to Beijing Language and Culture University again through the Localized Teacher Training Program to study for a master's degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages, and finally became a qualified Chinese language teacher.

Li Mo (first from left) returns to his alma mater, Beijing Language and Culture University (Photo by BLCU)

Li Mo said that when he took his first class that year, he and his classmates found Chinese difficult to learn. As a student, he had little understanding of the meaning and usage of some Chinese characters and phrases. So he was very patient when he saw the students' confused expressions. "I sat together with students and asked where their questions were, and their questions were my previous questions, so I prepared my lessons with a focus on not letting students leave the classroom with questions." He said.

After the class, some students complained to him, saying they were confused about the meaning of learning Chinese and planned to give up. Therefore, he encouraged the students to persevere with his own life experience, telling them that "Chinese will open more doors for you".

Li Mo said that teachers shoulder a lot of responsibilities. Teaching Chinese not only requires skills, devotion, resources, etc., but also needs to stimulate students' interest, and once he decides to become a teacher, he should be a good model whether in class or after class, which makes him become mature.

"We live in the era of globalization. The world is more open, communication is more diverse, and thus there are more opportunities for our local Chinese language teachers." Li Mo said. In the future, he would like to go to China to pursue his PhD in International Chinese Language Education, to follow the growth of international Chinese language education, and to train more Mexican "Mr. Li".

(Reporters: Li Huansheng, Dai He, Jiang Chao, Wu Hao)