Submitted by ciurce on
I started learning Chinese in 2018 in November. I had never learned a foreign language apart from English and French. It was the first time to learn Chinese to the point I did not hello (Ni hao). I was so excited but I had no hope to learn and understand Chinese. But because I had friends, I started enjoying learning and knowing more about this adventure of Chinese.
When we started there were many students and we were all excited to learn. Our teacher was patient with us and taught us the very basics. She would always have time for you when you hadn’t understand and explained to you until you got it. We learned about Chinese culture the holidays had end before we learnt from Confucius Institute at UR but we changed we learnt from school. It was in 2019. By chance the Teacher didn’t change we continued to learn but now I had an idea of how Chinese looked like. I knew greeting and other short phrases.
In that year we started learning hard things it was not so easy mixing it with other lessons discouraged me but I kept on aiming high to the highest level of skills in Chinese Language and Culture.
From that time when I could get discouraged I would get discouraged I would think again and always say in my heart that it will help me in future and that was right when the teacher could give us an assessment. I would pass them with flying colours which supported me and always felt confident that I would pass.
The year ended of 2019 we did a Chinese Camp during holiday. I got a chance to participate in it at the Confucius Institute at UR we learned level 2. And we ended it. We were given an exam and passed it with flying colours and a speech test. At the end they gave us an: “Appreciation Certificate.” The next year due to the world crisis of COVID-19.
We passed a short time learning from school, in March end we started learning online which I like and helps me to continue to afford more skills in Chinese culture.
All in all, the journey of learning Chinese till now supports me and makes me happy. I discovered many things that I did not know and it also helped to always learn and admire other different cultures of the world. No matter how the journey is long. The Chinese culture is the most interesting thing I had that I would never forget.
I hope to get more training more than LEVEL 2. About this extraordinary culture and apply the knowledge and skills I’ve got about Chinese and thank all teachers and directors who ever let me down through this journey to my dreams.
作者简介：BLESSING HADASSA（中文姓名：何小莎），卢旺达基加利法维女子中学学生。该学校汉语班开设于第一夫人2018年访问该校后，迄今仅一年。