Confucius Institute says farewell to volunteer Mandarin teachers

On the afternoon of July 15 2024, the Confucius Institute at De Montfort University (DMU CI) hosted a farewell party in the Confucius Institute’s library for the volunteer mandarin teachers who will return to China after their tenure. The farewell party was presided over by Ms. Andrea Gu, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute. Ms. Jill Cowley, DMU Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities (ADH), and the CI staff attended the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Andrea welcomed and thanked the guests for their attendance and introduced the agenda of the meeting. Following this, Jill, on behalf of ADH and DMU, highly praised the work of all CI teachers, acknowledging their indispensable and great contributions to language education and friendly cultural exchange at DMU and the local primary and secondary schools in Leicestershire. She noted that cultural exchange is a mutually beneficial process. She wished the CI volunteer teachers a safe journey and a bright future, and expressed that DMU welcomes all the CI teachers as always.

Following Jill’s remarks, CI staff, Ms. Xiaohong Dan, Ms. Jieli Liu and CI coordinator Ms. Wei Liu also sent their thanks and best wishes to the volunteer teachers, wishing everyone a prosperous future and a path filled with success.

Moved by the various wishes, the CI volunteer teachers also expressed their gratitude to the local community, the two universities, DMU and USTB, and all members of the Confucius Institute. They unanimously agreed that during this experience, they not only gained knowledge and learned about diverse cultures but also made precious friendships and heartfelt connections.

Finally, Director Gu summed up and highly commented on the work and efforts of all CI teachers, and at the same time, she also expressed her best wishes to the teachers and hoped that the teachers could continue to pay attention to and support the work of the Confucius Institute in the future.

At the end of the farewell party, Jill and Director Gu presented all the CI Volunteer Mandarin teachers with tenure certificates and souvenirs. All the attendees of the meeting took a group photo, and the farewell party was successfully concluded.