NAIROBI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- A three-day seminar for enhancing the competence of local Chinese language teachers opened on Wednesday in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, drawing over 100 in-person and virtual participants.
The three-day seminar themed "Empowering Local Teachers for Quality and Sustainable Chinese Language Education" brought together senior government officials, language scholars and tutors.
The workshop has been organized by the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Kenya, and sponsored by the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching.
Carol Hunja, the secretary for Higher Education in the Ministry of Education, said that Chinese language teaching in Kenya is aligned with the new competence-based education that aims to prepare young learners adequately for future jobs.
"Chinese language, being the second most spoken language in the world, is being rolled out in Kenya. We have also signed a memorandum of understanding with China to promote Chinese language teaching in the country," Hunja said.
Kenya is committed to strengthening the capacity of local Chinese language teachers through partnership with Confucius Institutes embedded in several public universities countrywide, Hunja said.
She added that young graduates and in-service teachers have secured scholarships at Chinese universities where they have acquired pedagogical skills, and have joined the growing army of local Mandarin teachers.
To promote Chinese language teaching in Kenya, the government has also identified 20 pilot schools that will host teachers from China to teach Mandarin for a specific period, Hunja said.
She added that Chinese teachers will be merged with their local counterparts to ensure that Mandarin can be taught more effectively in primary and secondary schools.
Zhong Yinghua, president of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, noted that Kenya is among African countries where Mandarin proficiency has gained traction among the youth, given its central place in a globalized world.
Local teachers, once empowered, will be key to driving uptake of the Chinese language among young learners in Kenya to boost cross-cultural ties and mutual understanding, Zhong said.
Faith Wanjiku Mworia, the chairperson of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Kenya, said the seminar aims to upskill Mandarin tutors while increasing their understanding of policies aimed at promoting the language in local schools.
"From this seminar, the teachers will not only be equipped with the resources that they should use to enhance their teaching profession in the Chinese language, but also they will know how to strategically position themselves to become the best teachers here in Kenya," Mworia said.
Fred Wamala, a Mandarin teacher at a private primary school on the outskirts of Nairobi, said that young learners are keen to improve proficiency in Mandarin, aware of the myriad opportunities it could open in the future. ■