WELLINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand Chinese Language Week is being held in Wellington with a series of cultural activities full of Chinese characteristics such as Chinese teaching, martial arts and folk music.
Following the guidance of Lu Chunxiao, a Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute, Hannah Coates and Tom Scott learnt the pronunciation and usage of basic Chinese phrases at the Mandarin learning corner of Victoria University of Wellington on Tuesday, as one of the activities of the annual New Zealand Chinese Language Week which kicked off on Sept. 20.
Lu ran a pop-up Chinese language class with the "Five Days and Five Sentences" challenge. The phrases were "My name is ... Hello everyone! I need ... Thank you! You are welcome!" Students who completed the challenge felt proud and excited.
To Hannah, a girl originally from South Africa who has been learning basic Mandarin a few years ago, learning these Mandarin phrases was not difficult and pretty cool. While to Emma, a second-year student and beginner in Chinese, Mandarin was logical and interesting.
Apart from language learning, Meng fanxiao, a martial arts teacher at the Confucius Institute, demonstrated his skills with movement, chains and sword. Different from the Shaolin Kungfu better known here to Kiwis, Mr. Meng's style is both strong and soft, free moving and static, giving the audience an experience with his boxing-like stunt.
During the noon break period, five students from New Zealand School of Music sang three Chinese folk songs named "Sudi Xiaojing", "Snow Lotus" and "Jasmine", winning warm applause from the audience.
Besides, five winners of the 2020 "Chinese Bridge" competition for secondary school students were awarded the "Youth Ambassador" by the New Zealand Chinese Week Trust. The young Chinese language learners shared their reasons for studying and excelling at Chinese including future career opportunities, interest in China and its culture. The group was a diverse mix of students with Tongan, South Korean, Japanese, and European backgrounds.
The New Zealand Chinese Language Week, first launched in 2014, is designed to increase Chinese language learning in New Zealand. It seeks to bridge the cultural and linguistic knowledge gap between China and New Zealand by delivering fun and practical initiatives that assist Kiwis to learn Chinese. Enditem
