Chinese volunteers of Tianjin Normal University: volunteering to be a culture messenger and a friendship bridge

Zhang Fan, a volunteer Chinese teacher in Thailand: A Precious Time in My Life.

Zhang Fan, graduated from Law School, Tianjin Normal University, was sent to Thailand as a volunteer Chinese teacher in 2008. She has been working in Thailand for two years.

Working as a volunteer Chinese teacher, Zhang Fan fell in deep love with Thailand and her students. In 2009, after finishing the volunteer work, Zhang Fan chose to stay and take a more difficult task: acting as the Chinese director of Confucius Classroom at Xingmin School Phitsanulok. She was the youngest among all the classroom directors and was also the first volunteer who took over the classroom work after only one-year working in Thailand.

Apart from teaching courses, Zhang Fan tried every means to organize various cultural activities, and make the activities as flourish as possible to attract more people to participate, so that foreign friends in and out-of the school can learn more about China, and like China more as well. Zhang Fan said that the organizing capacity and adaptability learned in College laid a solid foundation for the accomplishment of the tasks. During the period of working as a Chinese volunteer in Thailand, she has successfully organized and planned more than 20 activities. The Spring Festival Gathering, adding a graceful Guqin performance and beautiful Xinjiang dances, attracted more than a thousand Thailanders; she also successfully organized the second “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition in northern Thailand; held the Photo Exhibition for the 60th Anniversary of P. R. China ...

“Two years of overseas volunteer life gave me a special and memorable experience, and this is a very precious Thailand time in my life.” Zhang Fan said.

In order to meet the soaring demands for Chinese language learning throughout the world and the urgent need for Chinese teachers, since 2004, Hanban has started the Volunteer Program for International Chinese Teachers, and has sent more than 8,000 volunteers to primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions and Confucius Institutes/Classrooms in more than 70 countries.

Up to now, Tianjin Normal University，as one of the training institutions designated by Hanban for the Volunteer Program for International Chinese Teachers, has sent nearly 300 volunteer Chinese teachers since the implementation of the volunteer Chinese teacher project in 2005, which has positively contributed to the international promotion of Chinese language, worldwide dissemination of the Chinese culture, and also the development of friendly relations between China and other countries. The volunteer Chinese teacher are well-deserved as the cultural messenger and the bridge of friendship.(Reporter Zhao Hui, Correspondent Sun Li, Zhang Wei)