On April 24, the Confucius Institute hosted a visit from a group of 31 junior high school students and 3 teachers, including the principal, from Colonel Irvine School in Calgary. The purpose of their trip was to experience Chinese culture at the Confucius Institute in Edmonton.
The CIE director, Dr. Wei Li, provided a very brief introduction about the CIE and also explained the programs that are available to support the Chinese language and culture learning, such as Chinese testing, Chinese Bridge and scholarships.
The students were very excited about the workshops which included Chinese Dough Art, Chinese knots and Tai Chi, provided by the CIE teachers. They made fish, birds and butterflies and many of them mentioned this was their first time to experience these art forms.
The Calgary group also visited Londonderry Junior High School and had some interactive activities with the Chinese bilingual students in Londonderry School. It was a great opportunity for the students from both schools to share their learning experience and practice their Chinese language skills.