BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
ON June 1, SINU’s Mandarin teacher from Taiwan, Ms Kuei Mi Li held her fifth and last Mandarin awareness activity on language and Taiwan culture at Honiara High School.
She expressed that like other students whom she had encountered during her touring, the students have shown intense interest and warm welcome for her presentation, stimulating and gratifying.
Students showed great interest in the presentation with one of them, Alickson Dalu stating that his most favored part of the session was when they were taught how to sing and learn Mandarin.
Ms Li was also assisted by one of her students, Ms Agnes Menapono who spoke and sung to the students in Mandarin.
Ms Menapono said that by the look on their faces, she could tell that they loved the presentation and were interested in to learn more about Taiwan and Mandarin.
“When I spoke and sang in front of the students, I felt nervous, a little bit but I liked it. Speaking and singing Mandarin in front of them made me feel like I was telling them that learning Mandarin is fun, you know singing, dancing and of course the fact that Mandarin is totally a different language but is very important for Solomon Islanders to learn,” she said.
Li who will leave for Taiwan and return in August stated that she wants to take advantage of this trip and bring back some more interesting linguistic and cultural elements to share with students in Solomon Islands.
“It’s always my concern to motivate the students to learn, whether it’s the language, the culture, or anything that’s relevant to our world,” she said.
Li mentioned that while in Taiwan she also wants meet with Solomon Islands students who are currently in their first year of studying Mandarin.
She added that they were her students at SINU so she wants to see how they are progressing in their Mandarin learning as well as how they are adapting to the Taiwanese lifestyle and culture.
Li who is also fluent in French with a linguistic background looks forward to returning to the country with more interesting things to pass on to students.
“I look forward to coming back to Solomon Islands with refreshed energy to pass on to the students of the Hapi Isles,” she said.
Students from some of the schools Ms Li visited have all shown interest in learning the Mandarin language while picking up brief information about Taiwan and the Taiwanese culture.
