News & Events
On the morning of Tuesday November 22, students and staff of Confucius Institute Kenyatta University woke up to great news of the award of ‘Excellence Award’ of one of their own, Mr. Mwai Nyongesa in the international Chinese Bridge Story Telling Competition. Mr. Mwai submitted a video of a Kenyan hunter, adorned in Maasai regalia and told the story of how despite many failures of the day, he simply refused to give up. His creativity in merging African and Chinese culture in his dressing and even choice of activity, ‘hunting’ earned him the award. Mr. Mwai expressed himself in flawless Chinese even attempting words on the script that are beyond his scope of learning as he is a new student of the language. His classmates who also helped vote for him, were elated and praised him for his hard work.
The Institute continues to place great importance in exposing students to such competitions from where students can be able to compare their level of proficiency with students form other Universities and make contacts and networks. Through winning such competitions, students have in the past even earned prestigious fully funded scholarships to go study they language further in China. Mr. Mwai is a student of English Literature from the School of Education Kenyatta University, who takes Chinese language under the Beginner’s programme. We wish him the best in his journey of learning Chinese language and culture. This is what Mr. Mwai had to say after his win,
‘I'm still flattered and carried away in this winning atmosphere. It has been barely three months of learning Chinese and winning the Excellence Award in the Bridge Storytelling competition is an inspiration to me. A better way to put it is that I'm motivated to give my best in learning Chinese. My story, The Hunter, was simply a poem I scripted, translated, voiced over and acted it out. It is about a Kenyan hunter who fails in all his attempts of that day. Despite this failure, his hopeful attitude and positivity gives him energy to hope for the best in his hunt episodes to come. It is a story of hope, an admission that failure is inevitable and that hope should firmly remain rooted in our hearts. I ascribe my win to my teacher and mentor in the competition, Ms. Lorna Duoduo, she is the best! To my adorable classmates who supported the storytelling, I cherish you all. Actually, every individual in the entire Kenyatta University Confucius Institute has been a positive encouragement. Script writing, filmmaking, acting, poetry and singing are among my abilities that have continued to shine through the platforms afforded by Kenyatta University Confucius Institute. I'm grateful for such precious opportunities. God bless KUCI! ‘
Mwai Nyongesa sings in Chinese and plays guitar in a past Institute event.
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Music has since been proven to be a powerful aid in language learning. The Kenyatta University Confucius Institute has put great effort in supporting their students experience as well as achieve the very best in their Chinese language learning experience. One of the projects to support this course was the Kenya Good Voice Singing Competition that was held on October 19, 2022 at the KUCI Multifunction Hall from 2:00 p.m.
Talent display by KUCI student during the Kenya Good Voice
The event was filled with color and pomp, and the esteemed presence of Dr. Hellen Guantai, the director at the KUCI and Dr. Pricilla from the Music Department. Students from Naivasha Girls’ High School were also part of the attendants, including KUCI students as well as their local and Chinese lecturers. The contestants were Chinese language students at the institute. Ms. Lorna Duoduo, a Chinese lecturer, was the emcee of the event.
Colorful performance by the KUCI student choir
The contestants wowed the audience with their melodious Chinese songs; the audience showed their support as the judges evaluated the performances. All the nine contestants had great performances and made the event a great success. Students from the choir group entertained the audience as everyone waited for the judges’ decision with anticipation.
Some of the contestants giving their performances
Moses Mwai, a Chinese language student from the Beginners’ Chinese Class took the first position. He displayed great mastery in simultaneously playing the guitar, reading a music sheet and singing in Chinese language. The guest judge Dr. Priscilla Gitonga from Music Department said combining these requires a lot of practice and talent thus Moses emerged number one. For first prize, and as the only male contestant Mr. Mwai bagged Ksh. 7000 cash prize. He was elated and in his winner’s speech thanked KUCI for giving students the chance to explore their talents and use them to enhance Chinese language learning. Position two had a tie of three students, as well as position three. The winners received generous cash prizes as well, and offers to give performances for future university events.
Winners receiving cash prizes from Dr. Hellen Guantai and Dr. Pricilla
The students also got renewed motivation in their Chinese language endeavor. One of the contestants, Elizabeth Adera, mentioned, “It encouraged me to push harder in learning Chinese language as I learnt the song within a short time and performed it before all the attendees.”
Elizabeth Adera practicing for the competition
In her concluding remarks, the director, Dr. Hellen Guantai thanked all the staff members and students for their combined effort in making the event a great success. She also encouraged the students to add more effort in their studies at the institute, and to keep participating in the future extracurricular events at the institute.
Happy faces of the director, members of staff and students at the end of the competition
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On October 22, 2022, the Confucius Institute at Kenyatta University held its second HSK, HSKK & YCT exam on the ground floor of the International Language and Culture Center Building. As an examination Centre, KUCI provides its student, the public, primary and high school students taking Chinese Mandarin in Kenya the opportunity to sit the International exams. These are international exams set and marked in China but is administered through certified test centres globally. KUCI is one such exam Centre.
Chinese lectures were at hand to ensure full compliance with the headquarters requirements which included strict observation of Covid-19 protocols. They also carefully checked the information of the examinees, orderly organized the entrance and seating of the examinees. They carefully guided them to fill in details of their exam numbers, Chinese names among others on the answer cards according to the requirements of the examination order manual. They also collected, sealed and mailed the exam answer booklets to China on the same day.
China has been administering these exams for many years as they saw a need to standardize the testing of proficiency of Chinese language learners globally. Experts in Chinese language teaching, linguists, psychologists, education managers among other experts were tasked to evaluate and come up with a global standard to test Chinese proficiency. This gave birth to the HSK, HSKK & YCT exams. This year KUCI had many candidates, a true reflection of the growing awareness of the need to learn Chinese mandarin as a foreign language in Kenya.
The Kenyan Government under the new CBC curriculum has authorized the teaching of Chinese Mandarin in the Kenyan curriculum. KUCI has not only been training teachers to teach the language in these schools, but also has been working closely with primary schools and high schools in Kenya with Chinese clubs. It is in the Institute’s interest to ensure that it stays fresh in the minds and hearts of the young leaners, this way once they clear their high school studies will join KUCI to advance their Chinese language learning.
Students taking the HSKK exam
Students take HSK exams
Lecturers ensuring compliance before admitting candidates to the HSK exam hall
October 2022 YCT candidates take their test
Chinese lecturer Wu Haowen checking examinee details before allowing them to enter the exam room
Chinese lecturer Luo Duoduo checking covid-10 compliance
Students taking YCT exam
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On October 22, 2022, the 2022 "Chinese Bridge" online group project -” China and Africa, Enjoy the Confucian Charms Together " winter cultural camp kicked off successfully. The project was sponsored by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of the Ministry of Education and hosted by the School of International Education of Shandong Normal University. There were more than 100 participants from Kenya, Sudan, Egypt and other countries.
This winter camp is mainly targeting African Chinese language learners. It aims to promote interpersonal communication with Chinese language as the medium for communication, and to connect the world through culture. The project leader, Professor Shi Jie, presided over the opening ceremony.
Secretary Liu Jinkai, Dean Ma Maoxiang and Director Chang Qingfeng of the School of International Education of Shandong Normal University delivered speeches on behalf of the organizers. Dr. Hellen Guantai, the director of the Confucius Institute at Kenyatta University in Kenya, and Ms. Luo Duoduo, the Chinese teachers’ representative, also expressed felicitations for the winter cultural camp. Joseph, an international student from Shandong Normal University, shared his wonderful Chinese learning story.
Zheng Cui, the main lecturer, introduced the course outline of the winter camp. The winter camp is expected to last 10 days, and the course content focuses on "Chinese in Real Life", "Qilu culture" and "intangible cultural heritage experience". So as to improve the participants’ cultural and language abilities, the participants will experience the beauty of Chinese language and culture and increase their awareness of Qilu culture through activities such as language learning, cultural experience, live online viewing.
As a regional cultural exchange project specially planned by our institution for African Chinese language lovers, the college strives to build a window to showcase the real China, help the participants start a fascinating Chinese language learning journey, feel the pulse of China's development of the times, strengthen the exchange and interaction between Chinese and African youth, promote cultural exchanges between China and African countries, and enhance friendship between the people of China and African countries.
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