On Thursday 11^th May, we were delighted to take part in the official and belated UK celebrations of International Chinese Language Day, hosted at the Chinese Embassy in London and attended by several members of the international press. The kind invitation was extended by the Chinese Minister for Education, Ms Zhang Jin, who visited Kingsford earlier this year and was extremely impressed with everything she saw. UNESCO (part of the United Nations) first created Chinese Language Day in 2010 to celebrate Chinese as one of the six official languages of the United Nations. It is now celebrated every year on 20^th April.

The afternoon's celebrations were officially opened with words from Chinese dignitaries and ministers, with our own Head Teacher Ms Deslandes sharing a few words on the importance of international partnerships in offering life-changing opportunities for young people.

"In our increasingly globalised world, I believe that it is incredibly beneficial to identify and to celebrate different cultures, not as a distant aspect of a contained curriculum, but as a clear and present aspect of our everyday lives," said Ms Deslandes.

Our invited Mandarin Excellence Programme pupils, together with just 100 pupils invited from schools across the UK, then enjoyed a series of fun and engaging workshops including Velvet Flower Headwear Making, Opera Face Painting, Kongfu Learning, Mouth Blowing Flower Paintings, and much more. These workshops were run by teachers of six Confucius Institutes from London, Oxford and Nottingham.

There were plenty of photo taking opportunities, and pupils enjoyed sharing their reflections on the day and learning a group dance for the closing session before taking a special souvenir home with them. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Jin for the invitation to join this highly memorable day, and to our wonderful Mandarin team for making our visit possible.

''Participating in the 2023 UK International Chinese Language Day was an unforgettable experience. I was amazed by the richness of Chinese language and culture. The hands-on workshops were my favourite- I loved trying Chinese calligraphy and painting. The group dance at the end brought everyone together and it was fun learning the moves. This event definitely sparked a deeper interest in Chinese culture within me.''  - a Year 8 pupil.

Find out more in this article in the international press.