cppcc vice-president praises work of confucius institute .../file/...weber, professor phil powrie,...

Newsletter December 2009 I Number 4 I

ConfuciusInstitute.

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Following a brief tour of the new Confucius Institute premises at5 Shearwood Road with our Director Dr Lily Chen, Madam LinWenyi met with Professor Tony Payne, Pro-Vice Chancellor forSocial Sciences, Professor Zang Xiaowei, Head of the School ofEast Asian Studies, Professors Tim Wright, Liang Yanmin andWang Tianxing, and Dr Sarah Dauncey, in the wonderfulsurroundings of the University’s landmark building Firth Court to formally discuss the work of the University of Sheffield indeveloping links with China, providing opportunities to study China and Chinese and raising awareness of China more generally.

Madam Lin praised the efforts of all the staff at the School ofEast Asian Studies and the Confucius Institute and thanked themon behalf of the Chinese Government. She pointed out that sinceopening in 2007 Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield(SCI) SCI, with its numerous evening language and cultureclasses for adults, its weekend school for children, its regularcultural activities and business events, has already become animportant centre in the North and Midlands for Sino-Englishlanguage and culture exchange. Further, it has become aConfucius Institute from which a lot can be learned. She alsoencouraged staff to continue their outstanding work and makefurther contributions to Sino-English relations.

CPPCC Vice-President praises work of ConfuciusInstitute and School of East Asian StudiesIn a special visit to Sheffield on October 26th, Madam Lin Wenyi, Vice-President of the ChinesePeople’s Consultative Conference, met with Sir Peter Middleton, Chancellor of the University ofSheffield, and other senior staff to review our achievements.

Inside .....CPPCC Vice-President praises work of Confucius Institute andSchool of East Asian Studies page 1

A word from our Director… page 2

New premises and new facilities for our Institute page 2

“Chinese Culture Week” brings a flavour of the East to Sheffield page 3

Off-the-Shelf – a fun way to explorethe Chinese literary world page 4

SCI and SEAS play host to over 70 Chinese experts page 4

Chinese language teacher training matters... page 5

New Chinese tests open up new opportunities page 6

汉语桥 2009: A bridge from Sheffield to Changsha page 7

Learning Chinese, experiencing China page 7

Bringing China into the classroom page 8

Along with Manchester Education Consul Zhang Yihua,Counsellor Wang Luxin from the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, Mr Yan Zhenjun, Deputy Head of the Office for Education,Science, Culture, Public Health and Sports of the BeijingMunicipality People’s Congress, and Deputy Director LiangXueming from Confucius Institute Headquarters, who wereaccompanying her on this visit, Madam Lin attended a relaxinglunch kindly hosted by Sir Peter Middleton, Chancellor of theUniversity of Sheffield and his wife, Lady Middleton. Sir Peter andLady Middleton were delighted to have the opportunity toshowcase the best of local English cuisine at the Michelin-starredOld Vicarage Restaurant at Ridgeway although it was hard to tellwhat our Chinese guests really made of the traditional blackpudding that accompanied the main course!

From left to right: Madam Lin Wenyi, Professor Tony Payne, and ProfessorZang Xiaowei.

Madam Lin presents Sir Peter and Lady Middleton with a traditionalChinese landscape painting.


A word from our Director…Last month saw SCI host an extremely important Chinese state visit. We were honoured to welcome Madam LinWenyi, as well as senior staff from Hanban and Beijing. This was our most high-profile Chinese visit to date. SirPeter Middleton, the Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, was on hand to welcome these distinguished guests.Madam Lin was generous in her praise of SCI: “Your good practice and achievements in providing a Chineselanguage and culture service have established you as the centre for Chinese in the North and Midlands,” she said.High praise indeed. This visit has significantly raised the profile of SCI, both within the UK and internationally. Priorto this in June, we had played host to two important conferences: the UK Confucius Institutes Network Directors’Meeting and the British Chinese Language Teaching Society’s 4th International Conference on Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.Reports of these two meetings are carried elsewhere in this newsletter, but suffice it to say here that they also helped to showcase thework we do here.

The other major autumn event took place from September 28th to October 4th – China Week – when we laid on a range of China-related activities in the University and across the city centre. These included a photo exhibition, a children’s art workshop, andlanguage, taijiquan and calligraphy taster sessions for adults. We also showed Chinese films, and a team from London’s South BankUniversity ran some excellent sessions on “well-being” Chinese-style. Between them, these events gave a real flavour of China andChinese culture to the people of Sheffield and the wider region, which is exactly what SCI is all about.

Dr Lily Chen

New premises and new facilities for our Institute

In recognition of the increasing range of activities and sphere ofinfluence of the Institute, the University has allocated the CI a new,more spacious location at 5 Shearwood Road in July. The two-storey building is now next door to the School of East AsianStudies, which means that Chinese students of both the Schooland the Institute are able to share facilities and move betweenthem in a matter of minutes.

Downstairs, in addition to a reception area, there is thecomfortable Reading Room, which houses part of the Institute’sgrowing collection of books and magazines that includeseverything from translations and original versions of Chineseliterature to modern academic texts on Chinese society andpolitics, as well as copies of People’s Daily and China Pictorial toname but a few. The room also has a television linked up to CCTV4, a Chinese language channel ideal for students who wish to brushup on their listening skills, as well as a DVD player that can be usedto watch the large collection of films and documentaries housedthere.

In an adjacent room is the Resource Centre which holds ourChinese language materials for teachers. There are also severalcomputer stations for teachers to prepare lessons. The Institutehas been able to expand its collection of publications and filmsthanks to contributions from the Chinese government as well assome very generous donations from individuals, and, with a newcataloguing system, we are now able to make items available toborrow on loan.

Upstairs, alongside two offices for our Chinese Directors fromNanjing University and Beijing Language and Culture University, is awell-equipped Multimedia Room. Here, an interactive whiteboardenables teachers to employ the latest technology in teaching,whilst eight computers allow students to access Chinese languagelearning materials, the Great Wall Chinese or explore informationrelated to China available online.

The Institute is open to the public from 9-12pm and 2-5pmMonday to Friday during university semester time.

MULTIMEDIA ROOM READING ROOM RESOURCE CENTRE


of the SCI Executive Board) gaveeloquent speeches on the work ofthe Confucius Institute in Sheffield.They emphasised the importanceof enhancing understandingbetween China and the UK andpraised the staff for their work inproviding an excellent and efficientplatform for interculturalcommunication and friendship. Inrecognition of the approachingMid-Autumn Festival guests wereable to sample wonderful home-made moon cakes, the traditionalChinese snack eaten at this time ofthe year.

For four days, the exhibition space, which was brightly decoratedwith Chinese lanterns and flowers, hosted a vibrant display ofphotographs of China, including a section on key images from thefounding days of the PRC to the present day, a section on the 2008Olympic Games in Beijing, some outstanding photographs ofChinese landscapes and everyday life, as well as the best of thephotographs from the last two years of the Institute’s own “Chinain Photographs” competition.

As well as theexhibition, the Instituteorganised 15 tastersessions for Chineselanguage andcalligraphy which wereattended by adults andyoung people alikefrom the city andsurrounding region.SCI Director Dr LilyChen, myself and otherteachers led theChinese sessions,which aimed tostimulate interest inlearning the language,by giving a taste of themeaning of Chinese characters, the sounds of Mandarin and someuseful phrases to take away and practice. Professor Liang Yanminand teacher Dong Zhicheng guided artistically-inclinedparticipants in the tricky art of Chinese calligraphy, which involvesnot only mastery of the brush, but control of the ink and pressureon the paper. And whilst their parents studied in these tastersession, children as young as two were introduced to Chinese folkarts including paper-folding and cutting, and were given thechance to decorate a wonderful five-metre-long dragon thatsnaked along one side of the hall, under the direction of Dr HuXinqun, Head of the Star Mandarin School, ably assisted by otherteachers from the School and our administrator Caterina Weber,who dressed for the occasion in an eye-catching ethnic minoritycostume. We couldn’t have wished for a more colourful finale to anenjoyable week.

“Chinese Culture Week” brings a flavour of the East to SheffieldProfessor Wang Tianxing reports on a week of China-related activities organised by the Institute to celebratethe 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

From September 28th to October 4th local residents could havebeen forgiven for thinking that China had come to Sheffield as theInstitute organised an array of colourful events around the city.The week kicked off with two nights of Taijiquan tasters at theUniversity Drama Studio as well as showings of Feng Xiaogang’s2007 Chinese box-office hit Assembly at the Showroom Cinema inthe city centre. The film, which was introduced by China historianDr Marjorie Dryburgh from the School of East Asian Studies,provides a contemporary perspective of some of the militaryaction that occurred in the final days of the Chinese civil war. And,on September 30th a group of Chinese culture experts andperformers from London’s South Bank University held a livelysession at the University that included talks on Chinese “well-being”, including tea culture and massage, accompanied by acolourful dance performance. Members of the audience were eveninvited on-stage to get hands-on guidance from the experts.

The National Day celebrations began in earnest on October 1st,when the Manchester Chinese Consul General Ni Jian,accompanied by Education Consul Zhang Yihua, and Professor PhilPowrie, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Arts and Humanities at theUniversity of Sheffield, officially opened the Confucius Instituteoffices with a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony. Following a tour ofthe facilities led by Dr Sarah Dauncey, the guests moved on to theJessop West Exhibition Space, the location for our China exhibitionand cultural activities. Here, the Deputy Lord Mayor, CouncillorAlan Law, welcomed the guests on behalf of the city and, ConsulGeneral Ni, Professor Powrie and Professor Tim Wright (Member

From left to right: Professor Liang Yanmin, Mr Tim Crick (Director for International Liaison, UoS), Ms CaterinaWeber, Professor Phil Powrie, Professor Wang Tianxing, Consul General Ni Jian, Dr Hu Xinqun, Professor TimWright, Consul Zhang Yihua, Dr Lily Chen, and Dr Sarah Dauncey.

The four-day China exhibition included images from the Institute’s annualphotographic competition.

Visitors of all ages tried their hands attraditional Chinese arts and crafts, includingcalligraphy and paper cutting.


Off-the-Shelf – a fun way to explore the Chineseliterary worldSheffield City Council’s annual Off-the-Shelf Festival of Reading and Writing once moreprovided a fantastic opportunity to learn more about Chinese literature, this time with the assistance of acclaimed author Tim Murgatroyd.

On the October 28th, the Institute organised two creative writingworkshops, one for adults and the other for children, which wereled by English teacher Tim Murgatroyd, author of Taming PoisonDragons, a novel that is set against a background of war andrebellion at the end of the Song Dynasty (960–1279), and depicts aChinese poet pursuing love, justice, courage and honour. Thoughhe has never studied the Chinese language, Tim’s passion forChinese poetry, which began when he was 18 and studying atOxford University, inspired him to write the novel and provides areal flavour of the artistic temperament of his protagonist.

For the children, Tim decided to recreate a traditional scholars’party. The setting was decorated with Chinese-style banners andclassical paintings, and traditional Chinese music added to the

atmosphere. Tim selected 12common topics found inChinese poems – such asnature, landscapes, the life of ahermit, the hardship of war,farewell, friendship andfestivals – and createdcolourful prompt cards. Hepicked one of the cards,“travelling by boat”, and askedthe young participants to closetheir eyes and imagine thescene: “Where are you goingand why?” “Do you know whenyou’ll return?” “What are yourfeelings about the journey?”

“Will it be dangerous or enjoyable?” Dressed in Chinese costumes,the children then went to pen their own verses with the assistance

of some of the teachers from the Star Mandarin School. The“party” could not be complete without Chinese snacks and, moreimportantly, sharing as 15 of the children stood up and bravelyread out their own poems.

Two days later, thethird Off-the-Shelfevent wasorganised by theInstitute, this time atheatrical playaccompanied by apoem and dance inwhich nearly 30children and 15adults participated.Following on fromthe successfulformat of last year,teachers at the StarMandarin School used drama and art to capture the imagination ofthe children. Teacher Zhu Na first introduced the Mid-AutumnMoon Festival, its origins and the ancient tales associated with it.Dressed in costume, 12 pupils from the School performed twolegendary tales from ancient China – “Master Archer Hou YiShoots Down Nine Suns” and “Chang’e Flees to the Moon”. And, atthe end of the performance, the children danced to a song basedon a famous Chinese poem “Prelude to the Melody of Water”,written by Su Shi a thousand years ago: “Will a moon so bright everarise again? Raise a cupful of wine, I ask the sky… So let us wishthat man will live long as he can. Though miles apart, we'll sharethe beauty the moon displays.”

Four budding Chinese poets get intocharacter to participate in the“Taming Little Dragons” scholars’party.

Children of the Star Mandarin School perform aspecial musical drama about the legendary Hou Yiand Chang’e.

SCI and SEAS play host to over 70 Chinese experts The British Chinese Language TeachingSociety’s 4th International Conferenceon Teaching Chinese as a ForeignLanguage (TCFL) took place in theUniversity’s Firth Court, June 29 and30th. More than twenty papers werepresented – including one from SCI’sown Professor Liang Yanmin – coveringeverything from the development ofteaching materials to the exploration ofnew teaching methodologies and,techniques for online teaching. ProfessorTony Payne, Pro-Vice Chancellor forSocial Sciences at the University, andProfessor Zang Xiaowei, Head of SEAS,both gave opening speeches. They said itwas an honour for Sheffield to host suchan event, in a rapidly growing field ofteaching and research where Sheffield

was already a key player. SCI Director DrLily Chen said the event broughttogether some of the leading teachersand researchers in the field from as farafield as the United States, China andSingapore: “The quality of the paperspresented was extremely high,prompting interesting debates about thisdeveloping field. TCFL is still acomparatively new discipline, but onethat is growing rapidly. There is hugedemand for qualified teachers ofChinese, so an event like this whichbrings together so many experiencedteachers and researchers to share ideasand methods is hugely beneficial.”

The BCLTS conference was preceded bythe UK Confucius Institutes Network

(CINUK) Directors’ Meeting. CINUKmeetings are held regularly in the UK,which now has a total of 17 institutes.Bringing together the directors of theseinstitutes provides a chance for them toexchange good practice, as well as todiscuss problems specific to the UK. Oneparticular issue discussed was Hanban’sproposed funding of full-time directorposts. It was unanimously agreed thatthis offer was clear evidence of Hanban’sfurther commitment to the CIs and couldpotentially have a great impact on thedevelopment of CIs. Other issuesdiscussed included development of theCINUK website, and allocation of dutiesand responsibilities to CI staff.


advanced levels and the corresponding training methods. It was anengaging and fruitful symposium that has already seen effect inpractice.

But, of course, we can only do so much here in the UK, so it is withgreat pleasure that every year we are able to organise groups oflocal teachers to spend the summer in China on coursesgenerously funded by Hanban. This year, Caterina Weber, ZhaoShuai, Zhu Na, Du Dan, Chen Hu and Huang Binhua went out toEast China Normal University in Shanghai for a month of specialisttraining that included lectures, observation and practice, all ofwhich has been of great benefit to the development of theirteaching skills.

As our Director, Dr Lily Chen, has said elsewhere in thisnewsletter, SCI is certainly becoming one of the main centres fortraining Chinese teachers in the UK. Our role is made all the moresignificant due to the very small number of places available ontraditional PGCE courses around the country. We are currentlyworking closely with the School of Education and the School ofEnglish Literature, Language and Linguistics at the University ofSheffield, and with Nanjing University and my own homeinstitution Beijing Languages and Culture University, to develop anew MA in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language which will be

coming online next September.These initiatives will go some wayto filling gap between supply anddemand when it comes toqualified Chinese languageteachers in the UK and raisingthe quality of teaching of Chineseas a foreign language overall.

To find out more about the widerange of teacher trainingactivities both with theConfucius Institute and theSchool of East Asian Studies,please [email protected].

Chinese language teacher training matters... at the University of Sheffield and beyond! Professor Liang Yanmin introduces some of the work of our Institute in this area and shows how it is crucialto the long-term, healthy development of Chinese language teaching in the UK.

One of the most important aspects to my work over the past 14months whilst I have been here at the Confucius Institute inSheffield is the overseeing of the development of work related tothe teaching of Chinese as a foreign language. Due to a shortage ofqualified personnel, teacher training has been identified as a keyproject by Hanban and, in line with the aims and principles of theConfucius Institute, it has also become a cornerstone activity herein Sheffield. Since the start of 2009, we have organised Chinalanguage teaching and learning lectures and seminars for localteachers here in Sheffield and have sent teachers for furthertraining in China. In addition to this, I have been invited to otherinstitutions around the country, such as Warwick and Manchester,to give training sessions to other groups of teachers.

Earlier this year I instituted a new series of open talks on teachingand learning Chinese characters. The first talk held on March 25thentitled “What is meant by the study of Chinese characters – whatshould be studied” focused on the historical development ofcharacters from pictograms through to the characters used today,highlighting key areas that would provide background to the study

of Chinese writing.The second talkheld on April 29thentitled “Howshould Chinesecharacters bestudied – teachingmethodologies”looked morespecifically at thephonetic andsemantic formationof characters andthe best ways tointroduce them tothe students.

On the back of this in June we organised the first SCI ChineseTeaching Symposium where we brought together key teachersfrom the School of East Asian Studies, Confucius Institute and StarMandarin School to talk in detail about issues related to teaching.Teachers Zhu Na, Chen Xiaohua,Zhao Shuai and eight othermembers of part-time staffshared their own knowledgeand experience, on which Dr LilyChen gave specific feedback andadvice in relation to the threecore principles of teaching,namely “inspire interest in thesubject, use teaching to guidelearning, and learn new ways inlight of the old ways”. Tocomplement this, I spoke aboutteaching Chinese at beginners,elementary, intermediate and

Professor Liang illustrates his open talk on thebest way to teach and learn Chinese characters.

Tutor Chen Xiaohua presents her ideas on good teaching practice to thefirst SCI Chinese Teaching Symposium

Chinese language teachers, including six from our own SCI, travelled fromall over the world to attend specialist training courses in China organisedby Hanban.


New Chinese tests open up new opportunities Dr Hu Xinqun explains how HSK, BCT and YCT are expanding and adapting to meet student needs.

overjoyed to receive grade C. The first YCT test also took placethis June when 20 young candidates from our Star MandarinSchool participated and achieved excellent results with a 95% pass rate. The youngest examinee was only six years old and the oldest was nearly 15. The test has given them a strong sense of achievement and further aroused their enthusiasm forlearning Chinese.

In order to stimulate further participation, Hanban has introducedscholarships for those who achieved outstanding results for theirparticular level. Four candidates who took the test this year inSheffield were awarded scholarships to study Chinese languageand culture at a Chinese university for one month or onesemester. They enjoyed free tuition and accommodation, and wereprovided with a modest living allowance.

“Studying at Fudan and the month I stayed in Shanghai were thehighlight of my summer. I got to meet some fantastic people fromacross the globe and my Chinese came on tremendously duringthe course,” said Carmel Ward, who did very well at the Basic level.Jodie Gardiner gained excellent results at the Intermediate level: “Ispent four weeks at Qingdao University over the summer. It was afantastic experience. The advanced classes I took were fun andchallenging, the teachers were great and it really helped meimprove my Chinese. We also went on lots of trips! It was a greatopportunity to learn more about Chinese culture and the city ofQingdao, as well as improving my Chinese language skills. I alsomade lots of new friends.”

SCI currently offers students theopportunity to take the HSK andYCT tests at various pointsthroughout the year and we offerfree preparatory classes at alllevels to familiarise studentswith the particularities andrequirements of the tests. Formore information, please [email protected]

The growing economy in China has sparked a keen interest inChina and stimulated ever increasing demands for learningChinese as a second language. To meet learners’ different needs invarious sectors at different proficiency levels and for different agegroups, Hanban has further developed their Chinese testingmethods to include three formats and more levels. Hanyu ShuipingKaoshi (HSK) is China's official, standardized test to assess theChinese language proficiency for non-native speakers (includingforeigners, overseas Chinese and members of ethnic minorities inChina); it approximates the English TOEFL and is, therefore, knownas the “Chinese TOEFL”. The Young Persons’ Chinese Test (YCT) isdesigned for non-native speakers below the age of 15, i.e. forprimary and secondary school pupils who learn Chinese as asecond language; it is aimed at boosting confidence and obtaininga sense of pride in learning the language. And, finally, BusinessChinese Test (BCT), as its name suggests, assesses the proficiencyof non-native speakers engaged in business activities.

Launched abroad in 1991, HSK was initially divided into three levelsBasic, Elementary-Intermediate and Advanced; however, from theend of 2009 it will be expanded out to incorporate more levels.The new-style HSK consists of two independent parts: a writtentest and an oral test. The written test comprises six levels: 1, 2 and3 are entrance-level examinations that correspond to the originalBasic level test and these cater for people who have begun to learnChinese and have a working knowledge of at least 150 characters;levels 4, 5 and 6 correspond to the original Elementary,Intermediate and Advanced levels, respectively. The oral test istaken only at the higher levels 4, 5 and 6. The new YCT consists ofa series of four levels of testing and children who have vocabularyof just 80 characters can take the level 1 test.

The School of East Asian Studies became an authorised testingcentre for HSK in 2004, one of the earliest centres in the UK. SCItook over the administration of the test in 2007 and since then, asthe only test centre in the North of England, it has expanded toinclude not only university students, but the wider community too.People come from as far as Liverpool, Manchester and York totake the test. David Grieve, the first candidate from SCI’s eveningclasses, took HSK Basic Level test this June 2009 and was

David Grieve, the first candidate from SCI’s evening classes, proudlydisplays his HSK certificate

Children as young as six years old took YCT for the first time this yearat SCI

Whatever the reason is for studyingChinese, taking language courses in thevery heart of China is a valuableexperience. Not only does the Mandarinlearner get many more opportunities tosharpen language skills, but the fullcultural immersion is what truly getsacross a feel of China. In May 2009, anexciting opportunity of both short-termand long-term scholarships offered by the

Confucius Institute Headquarters hasallowed several students of the ConfuciusInstitute and the School of East AsianStudies to follow Mandarin classes in aChinese University of their choice. All ofthem report back with great enthusiasmabout their stay in China.

Seamus Leith applied for a short-termscholarship at Beijing Language andCulture University after completing theConfucius Institute’s Beginners I Mandarincourse: “The stay in Beijing was great. Ifound myself really enjoying living inChina, and I am now considering taking upa University degree there.” KhaledBenelhadj-Saïd and Hannah Cameron,University of Sheffield students who learnMandarin with the Institute, returnedfrom Beijing just as motivated. Yet, being aforeign student in China is certainly asmuch about everyday life as aboutlanguage classes. Lance Pursey, a SEASChinese Studies graduate, is currently atSichuan University in Chengdu: “This is

such a great city, although riding a bike inthe traffic can be really scary. I'm notcompletely used to how spicy the food ishere, but it's just a matter of time. TheSichuan dialect is another thing I have toget used to slowly, it sounds so differentto Mandarin and, while courses atUniversity are in Mandarin, some peopleon the street can't speak it!” Aleksei Sedov(Beginners I, now Upper Beginners)reminds of the importance of trying outnew language skills where possible: “WhenI arrived, I was hardly able to order at arestaurant – but practiced daily andmanaged without problems in a week orso. I loved China, I could not bear to leaveat the end!”

The next round of applications forConfucius Institute scholarships willbegin around Easter time next year.For more information on eligibilityand how to apply, please [email protected].

George recalls his feelings before stepping in front of the camerasto compete against candidates from over 60 different countries:“The whole competition was shown on the nationally-broadcastHunan TV! Despite initially feelingworried that nerves on my first evertelevision appearance would affect myperformance, I was selected to advanceto the second round, giving a short self-written speech and a performance of adankou xiangsheng – a Chinese comedicperformance in the form of amonologue. However, the next roundwas even more nerve-wracking, as I hadto dress as the Monkey King and give ashort performance and another speech– this time on live, primetime television!”Competition, however, becameincreasingly fierce. “I unfortunately didn’tmake it past this round,” says George,“but I had great fun ‘monkeying around’,and was awarded the third-place prizealong with a six-month scholarship at aChinese university. I have to thank theConfucius Institute for helping me to have this amazing experience,which allowed me to make new friends from all over the world,greatly improve my Chinese and even briefly experience life as aTV star!”

汉语桥 2009: A bridge from Sheffield to Changsha Sheffield students achieve excellent results once again with support from the Confucius Institute.

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Two students from theSchool of East AsianStudies, RichardHeathcote and GeorgeMartin, took up theannual Chinese Bridgespeaking competitionchallenge in March2009. Following weeksof preparation underthe guidance of Dr LilyChen and withenthusiastic supportfrom the ConfuciusInstitute’s Sino-EnglishCorner, Richard and

George took the stage in London to compete against some 20candidates from other UK universities in the British round of thecontest. The competition consists of three parts: a short self-introduction in Chinese, a question and answer session testing thecandidate’s knowledge about China, and a Chinese culturalperformance. Sheffield once again achieved excellent results.George won a second place as well as an Outstanding KnowledgePrize, and became one of the two UK candidates to compete in the finals in Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan. Richardsecured a third place and was invited to follow the finals in Chinaas an observer.

George Martin and Richard Heathcoteproudly display their winners’ certificatesfrom the UK heats held in London.

George takes to the stageto perform in the televisedfinals in Changsha.

Learning Chinese, experiencing China Recipients of the Confucius Institute scholarships reveal the rewards of studying in China.

Khaled Benelhadj-Saïd takes time out of hisChinese language study to enjoy the sites ofBeijing with other scholarship students.


Enquiries to:

Dr Sarah Dauncey (Editor, SCI Newsletter) Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield

5 Shearwood Road • Sheffield S10 2TD • United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 8333 • Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 8334Email: [email protected]

High School, the girls performed the taiji routine they learned infront of their classmates in the afternoon.”

Bringing China into the classroom is an enriching experience bothfor pupils and instructors, as our own Professor Wang Tianxingnotes: “Through China Days I have not only been able to teachsomething about my own culture to British schoolchildren, buthave also learned a lot about local culture with them. It is avaluable and very enjoyable form of educational culture exchange.”And for the children of Utterby Primary School in Lincolnshire, avisit from Confucius Institute staff certainly opened new doors tounderstanding the world and a culture so very far removed fromtheir own, says their teacher Sarah Hall: “Developing a globaloutlook on the community in which we live can be difficult in asmall, isolated primary school such as ours, but today we managedthat and we are truly grateful for the input from your staff and,indeed, for your gifts.”

To organise a China Day or Chinese activities at your school,please contact [email protected] for more information.

Bringing China into the classroomMs Caterina Weber reveals how rewarding it can be to incorporate Chinese language and culture into theschool curriculum.

Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of theConfucius Institute’s work is the fact that we areconstantly expanding links with local schools asfar afield as Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.Usually, these take the form of ‘China Days’during which our staff brings Chinese cultureinto the classroom through a variety ofworkshops and hands-on activities. With overtwo years of experience, the Confucius Institutetakes part in some 15-20 China Days a year forchildren from nursery to high school age,including special needs schools. A choice ofsubjects allows schools to tailor their China Dayaccording to a set programme and budget –from language tasters to taijiquan, from Chinesecalligraphy to Chinese folk dancing, theworkshops are very interactive and popular withpupils of all ages. “The China Days were anabsolutely marvellous event. Every singlestudent enjoyed this experience,” said SimoneConboy from Ashfield School, Kirkby-in-Ashfield,where the Institute has helped organisingworkshops for two consecutive years.

China Days are very much in demand, especially in the period ofChinese New Year celebrations. Chinese language is, of course,usually the first choice – with Mandarin being a subject ofincreasing interest, schoolchildren are very keen on learning moreabout it. Can one really say a whole sentence, “Mother insults ahorse”, just by changing the intonation of a single syllable, ma? Bymidday, excited cries of Nǐ hǎo! Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? (Hello!What’s your name?) echo through the corridors. Just asfascinating as the spoken language and its four tones are Chinesecharacters: pictograms like 人rén (person), 山shān (mountain)and 伞sǎn (umbrella) provide a fun first approach throughguessing games. Beyond Mandarin language tasters, Chinese artsand crafts include a very wide range of activities to choose from –an exploration of Chinese characters with a calligraphy brush inhand, the challenge of succeeding in making your first cheerful redChinese paper-cut, or, for all budding martial arts and dancetalents, mastering basic taijiquan movements and learning acheerful Chinese folk dance routine. And, not to be missed, theworkshop that often proves most popular of all: Chinese cookery.After a short introduction on Chinese food from our instructor,pupils have a go at making their own Chinese dumplings. Not aneasy job at first: “Jiaozi dumplings have to be tasty, but should alsolook nice” explains Liu Yu, one of our cookery teachers. A delicioussmell from the kitchen usually attracts not only curious classmates,but often even the headteacher!

Upon request from the school, our instructors prepare in advanceto fit their workshop to special occasions. “Following thesuggestion of St Mary’s High School in Chesterfield, I taughtstudents the Chinese lyrics of ‘You and Me’ during our calligraphyand language workshop, the song which Sarah Brightman and LiuHuan sang at the opening of the Beijing Olympics. We later sang ittogether at a show in the school” says Mandarin and calligraphyteacher Chen Hu. Folk dance and taijiquan instructor Du Danremembers: “After half a day of taijiquan workshops at Sheffield

Tutor Zhao Shuai shows the pupils and staff of Kniveton School in Derbyshire how to maketraditional Chinese dumplings called jiaozi.

cppcc vice-president praises work of confucius institute .../file/...weber, professor phil powrie,...

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