Pursuing Dreams with Youth and Promoting Culture with Love

Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, is located on the central plateau of the island, and University of Antananarivo sits on a hill on the plateau. Over the past 14 years, a group of young teachers from China have come here to promote culture with love and pursue dreams with youth.

In 2019, at the age of 22, Zhu Simin came to Antananarivo as a volunteer Chinese language teacher after graduating from university. Upon her return from volunteer work in July 2021, she chose to come back to Antananarivo at the end of the same year as an international Chinese language teacher.

International Chinese language teachers Wu Yi (back row, left) and Zhu Simin (back row, right) touring with the students

"After coming to work here, I truly realized what a proud thing it is to teach Chinese overseas." Zhu Simin noted that it always gave her a sense of accomplishment even to teach her students to speak a single Chinese sentence or tell them the origin of the Spring Festival...

During her teaching assignment in the northwestern city of Majunga, Zhu Simin's students ranged across all ages, from kindergarteners to retired seniors. Zhu Simin wondered, "It's amazing that so many people are interested in Chinese language and culture in a distant African island country."

With similar experiences to Zhu Simin, 24-year-old Wu Yi has been working at University of Antananarivo since 2019 as a volunteer and an international Chinese language teacher. She frankly stated that there were times when she felt frustrated during her work, but it was all worth it every time she saw students gradually become interested in Chinese language and Chinese culture. "The students not only learn Chinese language from us, but they also gain a sense of China and Chinese culture. That's what this job is all about."

International Chinese language teacher Hu Zijuan (second from the left) joining the students to experience wrapping zongzi.

Hu Zijuan came to Madagascar in 2013 to teach Chinese language. She remarked, "With China's economic development and increasing exchanges and cooperation with other countries, many parents have started to encourage their children to learn Chinese language since middle school."

Hu Zijuan often pondered how to teach students what is hard to understand in the simplest way during the teaching process. She stated, "This is what I love to do, and in the process of teaching, I have realized my personal value."

Lai Ying is a member of the post-90s who came to the University of Antananarivo in 2017. In 2020, despite the impact of COVID-19, she chose to stay at her post and continue teaching via online methods. "It gave me a great sense of accomplishment to witness the students changing from not being able to utter a single Chinese sentence at the beginning to being capable of communicating with me in Chinese a few years later." said Lai Ying.

(Reporters Ling Xin & He Qiming/Photos by the Confucius Institute at University of Antananarivo)