TSUCI successfully held a luncheon to promote the project of Confucius Classroom

June 30th, 2017

June 30th, Texas Southern University Confucius Institute held a luncheon to promote the Confucius Classroom project at the museum of TSU .By inviting the principals of the Houston primary and secondary schools to the luncheon, TSU aims to increase the number of Confucius Classrooms in Houston and expand its influence. A total of 60 people attended the activity including Houston primary and secondary school principals and teachers, students from TSU Chinese course students Students and students from Global Learning Village, a primary school in cooperation with TSUCI. Dr. Roger Hart, dean of TSUCI ,Prof. Yi Xiao, Chinese coordinator of the TSUCI , led the Chinese volunteer to make full preparation for the activity.

The lunch opening was presided over by Roger Hart, the foreign dean. Using well-prepared slides and lively language, he introduced the rapid rise of China and the need to learn Chinese in the context of globalisation. He points out that the United States and China are the top two economies in the world and the promotion of Chinese is conducive to strengthening the political, economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries. He then showed the application procedures, resources in support and benefits of the project and called on school administrators to participate actively in the project.

17 students from the Global Learning Village, a primary school in cooperation with TSUCI sung the song ’Thanks’ in Chinese fluently under the guidance of Chinese teacher Ling Zhang with great passion. The Chinese level of these students witnessed not only the sense of responsibility and high quality of Confucius Chinese volunteers at TSUCI but also the success of the Confucius Classroom project.

In the next section, four adult students of Chinese course went onstage and shared with the audience their experience of learning Chinese. Melva Becnel who has studied Chinese in Global Learning Village said that watching the wonderful performance of the elementary school students reminded her of the time when she learnt Chinese there. She expressed thanks to Global Learning Village for teaching her Chinese and shaping a global perspective. Then, three students from TSU’s Chinese course came forward to share with the audience their experiences of Chinese learning.Taneshia Roberson and Allen Weathers have just ended the two-week Chinese summer camp held by TSUCI and were strongly impressed by the skyscrapers, megalev train, mobile payment technology as well as Chinese people's friendliness. Michael Flores won the National Honorary title from Hanban in 2017 because of his solid Chinese language skills and passion for the dissemination of Chinese culture. In his speech, he expressed his gratitude to TSUCI’s dedication in Chinese teaching and cultural communication, and said passionately to the students that "If you want to learn a language to improve your competitiveness, in today's world, this choice must be Chinese.”

Whether it is a child or an adult, the Chinese learners' Chinese language learning and cultural immersion are inseparable from the hard work of teachers and volunteers in TSUCI. After a year of full cooperation, global learning village(GLV) signed a contract with TSU and became the first school to establish official cooperation with TSUCI.Confucius classroom teaching point. And after opening Chinese elective courses in TSU for three consecutive years, TSUCI set up cultural courses AND business Chinese classes this year for the first time and put opening Chinese minors on the agenda. Amazed by these great achievements ,the educators present have expressed an interest in joining the Confucius Classroom project and maintaining contact with Confucius Institute. And TSUCI also promised to give strong support to these schools in co-building Confucius Classroom.

At last, the audience lined up to enjoy the prepared exquisite Chinese lunch. Many people were the first to taste authentic Chinese dishes such as black pepper beef, General Tso’s chicken and Yangzhou-styled fried rice. Speaking highly of them,they lauded Chinese food as the most attractive business card of Chinese culture.