In a qualifier for the Chinese Proficiency Competition for foreign college students, "Chinese Bridge", held on May 6, 2016 in the Hungarian division, two Hungarian college students, under the guidance of Ms. Niu Zhinan, a Chinese teaching instructor from the Open University of China (OUC), won first and second place in the contest.

When the competition results were announced, Ms. Niu Zhinan and her two student competitors beamed, with tears of joy in their eyes. By winning this competition, the two students coached by the OUC’s Niu Zhinan not only won the opportunity to go to Hunan in July for the finals of the contest, they also won a Hanban/Confucius Institute scholarship; both of which are precious opportunities for the two sophomore university students.

(Champion Li Ke (left) & runner up Hao Ge (right))

Niu Zhinan (middle), outside the competition site before the contest

Careful preparation brings good results

The "Chinese Bridge Competition" is a stage to test the achievements of Chinese language teachers and showcase students' learning capabilities. In 2015 Ms. Niu Zhinan was dispatched by the OUC to the Confucius Institute at Eotvos Lorand University (Lorand University) in Hungary to teach Chinese as a foreign language and was appointed as the organizer of the "Chinese Bridge Competition". In addition to tutoring and arranging for her students at the Confucius Institute to participate in the competition, she also helped the Chinese Embassy in Hungary with the preparation and development of the Chinese Bridge Competition in Hungary. Despite her heavy workload, she has still helped two of her students win the Champion and Runner-up awards, which is a remarkable achievement to be congratulated.

In the spring of 2015, when Li Ke and Hao Ge were still freshmen at the Chinese Language Department of Lorand University, Ms. Niu Zhinan was their Chinese teacher. She also instructed them in their preparation for the Hungarian division of the Chinese Bridge Competition in 2015, helping them win third place and the excellence award respectively. In 2016, due to adjustments in curriculum arrangements, Ms. Niu Zhinan no longer taught Li Ke and Hao Ge. However, when the two received notice about that year’s competition, they contacted Ms. Niu for the first time, "Ms. Niu, I want to sign up! Can you help me prepare for the contest?" According to established practice, guidance tutors are generally the students’ class teachers, but this year it was a little different since Ms. Niu no longer taught them. However, the active and sincere manner of the two students helped them win support from the Confucius Institute. Ms. Niu then led the two of them in a focused training programme before the contest.
The "training camp" was usually held in the morning and evening every day, in various locations. In preparation for the speeches and talent sections, Ms. Niu adopted a strategy of "giving individualized instruction and exploiting strengths and avoiding weaknesses" which would give different considerations and arrangements for their individual speeches and performances. Li Ke, was warm, lively and able to express herself well, but had a weaker Chinese language foundation, while Hao Ge was graceful and quiet, calm and composed, and had very strong Chinese pronunciation. Based on the two students’ characters and levels of learning, and after discussions with their teacher, Li Ke decided upon the topic of "I want to be Goddess" for her speech, with a "Swan Goose" dance for the talent show, and Hao Ge chose "A Dream Lights up the Future" with a creative musical performance, "Rhythm Enlightenment", for the talent show. By the end of the contest, Li Ke had captured first prize due to her humorous speech, a performance showing great self-confidence and a graceful dance. Hao Ge performed just as well and ranked second, lagging only three points behind.

After the competition, the two girls immediately rose to stardom, with various news media outlets competing to interview them and take their pictures. However the two students have never forgotten their teacher, telling her, "You are the best teacher we have ever met! As we all know, you will not be teaching us this year, but you still spent all your time helping us and lending us your clothes and cosmetics. You have taught us so much, thank you, Ms. Niu." Receiving such kind words from her students, Ms. Niu felt deeply pleased and proud.

She who is brave enough to take the challenge will see her glory radiate

Ms. Niu Zhinan graduated from the Master’s degree programme of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages at Beijing Foreign Studies University. During this period, she took part in a teaching internship in Hungary for one year as field practice. In July 2012, she was employed in the OUC Chinese Language Centre after graduation. In 2014, after successfully passing a series of strict selection examinations and a month of close training organized by the Hanban national office, she went to the Confucius Institute at Lorand University and became a Chinese language teacher. Whilst there she was responsible for teaching adult classes at the Confucius Institute at Lorand University, an interest-oriented training class of Chinese language in Veres Peter Secondary School and another interest class of Chinese language for the freshmen from the Chinese Language Department of Lorand University. With such a variety of students came a very heavy workload. The students in the adult class were from all sectors of society and had differentiated learning motivations and demands, all aside from their different personalities. Ms. Niu planned teaching topics and activities and prepared a full set of teaching PPTs, extension exercises, material kits for activities, etc., based on the characteristics of the adult students. She also included the OUC blended teaching model in her teaching in the Confucius Institute by using the internet to provide practical multimedia resources for students learning Chinese language and culture. Peter Veres Secondary School is where Ms. Niu had her teaching internship when she was a college student. When the school principal and her former colleagues heard the news that she’d returned to Hungary again, they immediately submitted an application to the authority of the Confucius Institute, inviting her to teach in their school. Peter Veres is far from the Confucius Institute where Ms. Niu worked and in order to meet the schedule of Peter Veres, she had to get up early to catch a train to arrive at work on time, but she accepted the offer without hesitation. In addition to her routine Chinese language teaching, Ms. Niu also holds a cultural experience class on an irregular basis to showcase the charm of Chinese culture and to attract more students to learn Chinese. She has also used her spare time to learn Hungarian and in 2015 she passed the HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) examiner’s qualification test. She also undertook foreign affairs work in the Chinese Embassy in Hungary.

Together with students

In this foreign land of Hungary, Ms. Niu is using her natural enthusiasm and talent to spread Chinese culture.

By Cao Xiaoyan, OUC

Photo by Niu Zhinan