BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
STUDENTS of Don Bosco Technology Institute on May 3 were treated to a new experience – learning Mandarin.
According to Ms Kue-Mi Li, a Taiwanese teacher currently teaching Mandarin at SINU, it was at first a challenge, speaking to more than 300 students.
Yet, eventually she expressed that she was surprised at how welcoming, cooperative, willing to participate and eager to learn they were when she ventured throughout the two hour period of the Mandarin awareness activity which involved a brief introduction of Taiwanese culture and Mandarin phrases.
The school principal, teachers and students all enjoyed the awareness activity.
Besides grasping a thing or two about Taiwan’s culture, students stressed that learning Mandarin was interesting.
A student majoring in construction, Junior John Tioti said that he loved the presentation and learned a lot such as language, culture and the link between Solomon Islands.
He mentioned that as much as he enjoyed the quizzes, he wants to know more about the language.
Kevin Efa, from the tourism and hospitality department, said he found the presentation interesting and also wants to learn Mandarin.
He expressed that they liked the activity and wanted more but time was too short.
Mr Freddie Idumae Gale, who is an electrical technology teacher, said that students really enjoyed the two hour activity which is something new that has not been held at the school before.
He added that it would more helpful if this activity was organised more often.
Don Bosco’s Principal, Father Moise Paluku Maneno said that it was not easy to convince the teachers for students to attend a two hour activity but seeing the need for students to be more exposed to reality and learning about something from outside, he was knew that the activity had to take course.
He mentioned that although students may not learn much about Mandarin, they will have the experience of know how challenging it is to learn another language.
“They might be happy with just Pijin and a little English, they don’t know how hard it is to learn a foreign language. I wanted to see our young students meet the challenge to learn a new language,” said Maneno.
