STORY: African teachers compete in Chinese language teaching skills competition in Tanzania
SHOOTING DATE: Dec. 2, 2024
DATELINE: Nov. 4, 2024
LENGTH: 00:03:13
LOCATION: Dar es Salaam
CATEGORY: EDUCATION

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): OMARI KIPANGA, Tanzania's Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology
2. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ZHANG XIAOZHEN, Chinese director of the
Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam
3. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): RASOLOFOMANGANJANAHAR ANDERSEN ANTONYO SYLVIANO, Overall winner
4. various of the awarding ceremony

STORYLINE:

The Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania hosted the first local Chinese language teachers' teaching skills competition over the weekend, in which 20 African teachers from 11 African countries participated.
   
The teachers came from Tanzania, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Zambia.
   
Zhang Xiaozhen, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute, on Monday announced the names of six winners after two days of intense competition, with Rasolofomanganjanahary Andersen Antonyo Sylviano, a Madagascan who teaches the Chinese language at the Confucius Institute at the University of Antananarivo, emerging as the overall winner.
   
The winners are eligible to participate in the finals in China. The Confucius Institute will provide round-trip tickets to China for them while the organizers in China will bear the domestic expenses, said Zhang.
   
The award ceremony was held Monday in tandem with the opening ceremony of the in-service workshop for the volunteer teachers in Tanzania.
   
Omari Kipanga, Tanzania's deputy minister of education, science, and technology, praised the teachers who took part in the competition, saying the Chinese language, like any other language, played an essential role in promoting diplomacy, cementing good relationships, and facilitating economic diplomacy.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): OMARI KIPANGA, Tanzania's Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology
"Language plays an important role besides in promoting diplomacy, and cementing good relationships, but also more in facilitating economic diplomacy. The Chinese language is of no exception. We are all aware that Mandarin is one of the great languages in the world. Mandarin has more first-language speakers than any other language in the world. Therefore, by learning it you open for yourself a gate of opportunities. It will be relatively easy to communicate with Chinese citizens in various fields by engaging in such communication. You open up the doors for your education advancement, business career, and promote language tourism. Therefore, from language diplomacy, you also build economic diplomacy."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ZHANG XIAOZHEN, Chinese director of the
Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam
"I hope next year more and more African Chinese teachers will participate in this Chinese language education idols. African Chinese teachers teaching skills exchange competition in Africa is to further enhance the professional concepts, knowledge, skills and practices of the local Chinese teachers in Africa, explore the rules and models of Chinese education in Africa in the future."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): RASOLOFOMANGANJANAHAR ANDERSEN ANTONYO SYLVIANO, Overall winner
"I feel honored to be selected to participate in this competition and now that I won the first prize, I feel very, very happy and so grateful to the judges, to the Confucius Institute of Dar es Salaam to hold this competition. It's the first one in Africa."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dar es Salaam.
(XHTV)