The Online Confucius Institute and National Extension College work together to deliver programme of Mandarin Chinese taster sessions to students

A collaboration between The Online Confucius Institute at The Open University (OCI) and the National Extension College (NEC) has enabled absolute beginners in Mandarin Chinese to benefit from a three-part programme of Chinese taster sessions between October and November 2024. Open to NEC and OU students, 32 attendees benefited from the series of online sessions. Hosted by NEC and delivered by OCI teacher of Chinese CHEN Zhiqiong, the interactive sessions covered the foundations of pronunciation, the written form (pinyin and characters) and basic sentence structure. Participants learned how to introduce themselves, deliver simple greetings and some everyday phrases in Mandarin Chinese as well as relevant cultural knowledge.

Esther Chesterman, NEC Chief Executive Officer, described the sessions as a ‘fantastic success’. Dr KAN Qian, Director of the Online Confucius Institute at The Open University said “We are looking forward to further collaboration with NEC”.   

Learners also shared their appreciation at the opportunity to attend the programme of introductory language sessions. Whilst many were trying Chinese for the first time out of curiosity, several attendees confirmed it had sparked their interest for learning Chinese with one learner saying they were now ‘motivated to truly study Mandarin Chinese further’.