The 19th Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students Global Finals recently concluded in Tianjin. Vitalina, a student from the Confucius Institute at Far Eastern Federal University of Russia coached by Wang Chong, a teacher of our college, won two major awards — the Global Third Prize and the Popularity Award. Teacher Wang Chong was conferred the title of Excellent Instructor by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, Ministry of Education of China.

Hosted by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, the Chinese Bridge Chinese Competition has reached over 160 countries since 2002 and attracted more than 1.8 million young participants. It is hailed as the global "Olympics" of Chinese language. Centered on the theme "Chasing Dreams in Chinese, Seizing the Youth", this year’s competition for secondary school students follows the storyline "Reading Tianjin, Reading China, Reading the Future". After fierce contests in global preliminary rounds, 120 contestants from more than 100 countries came to China for the global finals. The competition includes knowledge quizzes, Chinese story sharing, talent shows and debates, comprehensively assessing contestants’ Chinese proficiency, critical thinking and cross-cultural competence.

During competition preparation, Teacher Wang Chong developed a systematic coaching plan covering speeches, Q&A sessions and talent performances. He refined every detail repeatedly to improve the student’s linguistic accuracy and stage presence, while guiding her to gain in-depth insights into Chinese cultural connotations, helping the contestant stay poised and stand out in the competition.

These honors fully recognize the teaching practice capabilities of teachers from the College of International Culture and Education by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation. They also reflect the college’s long-standing emphasis on faculty development and teaching competency training. Going forward, leveraging its disciplinary strengths and practical platforms in international Chinese language education, the College of International Culture and Education will continue to create more international exchange opportunities for teachers and students, steadily improve teachers’ capacity to mentor competition participants, and advance the sustainable development of international Chinese language education.(Contributed by the College of International Culture and Education)