At the end of 2018, I received a message from our counselor: the Confucius Institute of De Montfort University was recruiting volunteer Chinese teachers. At that time, I was a postgraduate student learning English translation in the School of Foreign Studies, USTB, so I decided to have a try. Following rounds of selection and many training sessions, I arrived in the UK as a volunteer Chinese teacher in September 2019. The past year has witnessed me evolve from being a USTB student to a Chinese teacher in Leicester.

Chinese class can be enjoyable

The middle school I worked for is in the downtown of Leicester and the students there have no experience in learning Chinese and know little about Chinese culture. I know how important it is for students to find joy in their classes, so I emphasize cultivating students' interest in the Chinese language. Through compressing course content and showing more pictures and videos, I made students more active in my Chinese class and gradually it became their most anticipated lesson.

My story as a Chinese teacher

I’m so lucky to have an outstanding student, Georgia, in the adult class. She came from Italy and studied for her doctoral degree at the University of Leicester. She majored in Chinese when she was an undergraduate student and had a half-year exchange experience at Tianjin Foreign Study University. She has a lot of connections with China and a good command of Chinese. She was never afraid to ask me any question about Chinese, and I tried my best to improve her pronunciation and communication skills. This is how we became good friends.

In spite of the serious pandemic, Georgia continued to learn Chinese with me through online classes and contacted me through WeChat for any question she had during her learning. Now she has passed the HSK (Level 4), and is preparing to apply for an exchange program in China.

My growth on this journey

Time flies and my volunteer journey is coming to an end. From a postgraduate student of USTB to a volunteer Chinese teacher in Leicester, I am so thankful for having been given such an opportunity by USTB to travel abroad and enrich my teaching experience. I have made a lot of friends and got to know the culture of the UK and its difference with Chinese culture. Language is the best key to opening the door to other countries and cultures. By embracing different languages, we can understand the differences in other cultures and have a rational view of this world, and promote understanding and friendship between countries.