On January 22nd, 2016, the graduation ceremony of Chinese Language Teachers’ Training Program for Angola, sponsored by Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), hosted by Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and supported by Citic Construction Co., Ltd., was held in the School of Chinese Language and Culture of BFSU. Director of Hanban’s Division of Teachers, Zhao Yanqing, vice General Manager of Citic Construction Co., Ltd., Ma Chuanfu, and Executive General Manager of Citic in African, Zhu Boxue, attended the meeting.

Zhang Xiaohui, Director of the Confucius Institute Office of BFSU, hosted the ceremony. Vice Dean of the School of Chinese Language and Culture of BFSU, Gao Yuhua, introduced the training program. The trainees exhibited their study achievements through videos and talent shows. Ma Chuanfu extended sincere thanks for BFSU’s professional organization and the teachers’ dedication throughout the training. On behalf of Citic Construction, he presented to Hanban and BFSU respectively a silk banner to express their appreciation. Zhao Yanqing, Director of Hanban’s Division of Teachers, fully acknowledged the trainees’ progress in terms of professional capabilities of Chinese language teaching.

Started on December 22nd, 2015, the Chinese Language Teachers’ Training Program lasted a month with 200 class hours. All of the 10 trainees are Chinese employees of Citic-Africa in Angola, who will join the local teaching staff for Confucius Institute to teach Chinese in Angola. None of them have prior experience related to Chinese language teaching.

This training is the first of its kind Hanban held for employees of overseas branches of Chinese enterprises. Under the great support and direct guidance of Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), BFSU’s Confucius Institute Office, in cooperation with the School of Chinese Language and Culture, designed detailed curriculum plan and provided excellent teachers for this program. It provided various kinds of activities including in-class teaching, classroom observation, case study, trainee’s lectures, art experience and talent shows, with an emphasis on Chinese pedagogy and mock teaching. Its teaching goals——improving the trainees’ Chinese language teaching ability, cross-cultural communication ability and the ability to spread Chinese culture——were well achieved. The program also help BFSU explore effective modes of training for similar purpose.