News from Xinhua Net “《爱情公寓》帮我提高汉语水平”

English Translation

On 30 May, at the opening of the Confucius Classroom at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School by Principal Jenny Williams and Victoria University Pro Vice-Chancellor (International Engagement) Professor Roberto Rabel, Year 13 student Lucy Berger was applauded for her "clapper talk” (a Chinese performance style) on learning Chinese.

Last October Lucy had won Second Prize at the 8^th Chinese Bridge Speech Competition held in China. Lucy told the reporter that she normally reinforced vocabulary learning through watching Chinese TV and her favourite sitcom was Apartment. Marsden's Chinese language teacher Liu Jingying told the reporter that to stimulate students’ interest in Chinese, she would let them watch popular Chinese TV programs and movies such as If You Are the One and Mulan.

Marsden started teaching Chinese years ago and have gained remarkable achievement. In the recent 2016 National Chinese Bridge Speech Competition, its students won the first prize in the Junior category and the second prize in Senior category. Now, versatile Lucy is applying for scholarships to Peking University and Beijing Normal University, in the hope of attending college in China. Her classmates also performed at the inauguration of the Confucius Classroom.

Teacher Liu Jingying said that Marsden planned Chinese cultural activities and used practical teaching materials to increase students’ interest in Chinese. She recalled that when she led a group of her students to Beijing, she found, to her surprise, that they were able to use what they had learnt in class to bargain with vendors!

Marsden, which started teaching Chinese in 2007, now has its own Confucius Classroom. This brings with it better resourcing and Liu Jingying has been thinking about starting a ‘Chinese Cooking Classroom' to attract even more students.

Tony Browne, former Ambassador of New Zealand in China and Chairman of the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington, remarked on the importance of the Confucius Classroom. He said that competition for applying for Confucius Classrooms was quite fierce. A Confucius Classroom was a ‘certificate' of qualification in Chinese teaching and this would surely benefit the future development of its students. He added that China was important to New Zealand, thus it was of great significance that young New Zealanders were learning Chinese. He encouraged students by telling them of his personal experience: “I began learning Chinese at the age of twenty four, which brought me a career that I have been doing for 40 years.”

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