On December 4, 2021, a workshop on "The Current Situation, Opportunities and Challenges of Chinese Language Education in Countries Along the Belt and Road: A Case Study of Nigeria" was held through Tencent Conference. The workshop was presided over by Ms. Du Jin,thehead of the program Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages(MTCSOL) and delivered by Mr. Liang benbin, working at the Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, Nigeria. All graduate students of MTCSOL attended the workshop.
Mr. Liang introduced the basic national conditions of Nigeria, including history, politics, economy, public security and so on, analyzed the development and challenges of Chinese language education in Nigeria. According to Mr. Liang, although Nigerians have high enthusiasm for Chinese learning, the status of Chinese language in Foreign language teaching in Nigeria is relatively lower. Two universities in Nigeria have set up Confucius Institutes. Chinese language education in Nigeria is mainly led by the Chinese Center for Language Education and Cooperation, which causes the lack of self-development ability oflocalChinese language education. At the same time, subject to the epidemic and public securityissues, Chinese teachers are less willing to go to Nigeria. However, challenges are also opportunities. There is still a lot of room and potential for the development of Chinese language education in Nigeria. In addition, Mr. Liang also put forward his own expectations for the quality improvement of teachers of Chinese as a foreign language, who should also act as the cultural messengers and cultural practitioners.
Finally, Ms. Du summarized the content of the day and encouraged Master students of MTCSOL to build a solid professional foundation, go abroad, and act as friendly cultural ambassadors between China and the world. In the workshop, Li Luojia, a second grade postgraduate majoring in MTCSOL who is volunteering at the University of Leon in Spain, shared the challenges she had encountered during teaching in Spain.
