Interview: Chinese language online learning prevalent in South Pacific region amid COVID-19

"The Chinese language online learning is a great hit in the South Pacific island nations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The students have voiced their strong satisfaction with our online courses that have brought them not only knowledge but also happiness during this difficult time," a director of the Confucius Institute at the University of the South Pacific (CI-USP) said.

Yang Hui, the Chinese director of the CI-USP, told Xinhua that after the outbreak of the coronavirus early this year, the island countries including Fiji closed their schools as part of their efforts to fight COVID-19. For the teachers at the CI-USP and the three Confucius Classrooms, they were not idle at home, but responded quickly by adjusting their teaching methods and they have had a successful transition from face-to-face instruction to online teaching.

Jointly established in 2012 by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) and the University of South Pacific (USP), the Suva-based CI-USP also has three Confucius Classrooms in Fiji's Lautoka Campus, the Cook Islands Campus and the Emalus Campus in Vanuatu.

"The challenge was huge, but for the teachers like us with a strong determination, we acted swiftly and decided to meet this challenge by converting our face-to-face teaching to online classes. Our teachers also set up online learning groups to answer questions and interact with students, which not only makes normal teaching uninterrupted, but also guarantees the teaching quality to the utmost extent," she said.

"We can say proudly that no single student was lost in all our classes."

Yang attributed the online courses' success to the well-designed online teaching system, the joint efforts made by the teachers of CI-USP and the three Confucius Classrooms and the students on the campus.

"Our online courses are rich in resources, diverse in forms, and systematically scientific. There are video lecture for students to learn like normal classes; There are also audio materials for students to download and review anytime and anywhere; There are voice test plug-ins for students to upload voice homework for teachers to give feedback and comments, and there is a Chinese character writing plug-in for students to practice stroke order," she said.

"Besides this, the teachers of CI-USP and the three Confucius Classrooms work with every effort to get to this. They managed to do regular online meetings during the pandemic, discussing the adjustment of mid-term, final exams, quiz and evaluation standards," Yang said.

"They also had to find ways to adapt to the local conditions. For example, due to the slow internet speed, teachers needed to split the two-hour instructional lecture video into several 5-7 minute videos to facilitate upload and download. And we have to mention that while showing strong interests in our online courses, the students also gave us a big support."

Undoubtedly, the successful online courses have triggered good comments from teachers and students.

Akanisi Kedrayate, dean of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education of USP, expressed her appreciation for CI-USP's online teaching and shared the CI-USP's teaching videos with other departments in the faculty.

"A student survey has shown that the video courses recorded by the CI-USP are most popular with our students," she said.

Karishma Naicker, a student from the Lautoka campus, hailed the online classes, saying that "My Chinese classes would not have been so much clear and satisfactory without the help of my Chinese teachers. The explanation and examples given in class are very informative."

"The theory is in a very detailed and simplified form which is very helpful for the students during classes. My teachers guidance towards us learning Chinese is very helpful and I am very sure that I will be able to learn the language quickly."

Mosese Waqavonovono, chairman of CI-USP Alumni, has been learning Chinese language for eight years. He expressed his love and appreciation for the grammar videos, saying that "these videos are very interesting and useful, and I am very grateful to my teacher sharing it with us."

Lindy Teilai, a 20-year-old student, has been studying in Beijing for years. She returned to Fiji for her winter holiday but could not go back to China just due to the pandemic.

"I like Chinese language very much and I also like the heartwarming things my teacher does in our class. I believe that Chinese language learning is very useful because it will not only broaden our vision, but also help us do something to enhance people's mutual understanding and friendship," she told Xinhua.

Yang and other Chinese teachers are proud of what they are doing now.

"As a bridge to help people learn Chinese language and also help promote mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples in China and the Pacific region, the CI-USP and the three Confucius Classrooms are no doubt favored by the peoples in the region. We are very proud that we can continue to play such a role in the years to come," Yang said.