1 . With lion dance, Chinese Kongfu, Chinese crosstalk, songs and dances, and award-winning speeches, students from across New Zealand showed their Chinese language skills in the annual “Chinese Bridge” event held on Saturday.

Fifteen secondary school students and two primary school students participated in the event, which was organized by the Confucius Institute in Auckland.

Naisi, a New Zealand member of parliament (议会), reflected on his own experience of learning Chinese. He came to New Zealand at five. He had very patient Chinese teachers and passed the Chinese language tests smoothly. The capability to speak Chinese grounded him well in his Chinese culture. He is looking forward to hearing from bilingual (双语) talents who will help New Zealand become more diverse and promote cross-cultural exchanges.

Elijah from the Lincoln High School started learning Chinese when he was eleven. It was his fifth time to participate in the “Chinese Bridge”. He said that learning Chinese is of great help for him to know China better and he wished to visit the Great Wall in Beijing, the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai and the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan.

Ryan from the Christchurch Boy’s High School said that learning Chinese provides him with more opportunities for future career development. He said it was awesome that learning Chinese could allow him to make friends with 1. 4 billion people.

Chinese Ambassador Trophy from ACG Parnell College said that learning Chinese had opened a new door for him. From leaning Chinese, he started to understand the meaning of filial piety (孝顺), which made him closer to his parents. He learned Chinese very hard and wished the friendship between New Zealand and China makes further progress.

2 . Philipp Kessler and his wife Karin in Austria quit their jobs and planned their around-the-world adventure, but then the pandemic hit the world. They had to quickly_________their plans as borders started closing. “_________taking the train from Russia over Mongolia to China and_________more of Asia, we had to start in Europe. You can’t always_________your plans,” Phillip said.

After travelling across Europe, the_________found themselves in Mexico, where every day became a(n)_________for Philipp to immerse(使……沉浸于)himself in the Spanish language and culture. He began each day_________Spanish grammar and vocabulary and taking chances to put everything he learned into_________.

Everyday_________, like grocery shopping, taking a bus or getting a haircut, became__________experiences for Philipp. When a local market vendor(小贩)__________him about the fruits that he’d never seen before, Philipp realized how rewarding it was to connect with__________in their language. He also__________the barbershop so that he could tell the hairdresser__________what he would like his hair to look like. Philipp said, “People are happy to see you at least__________to speak their language.”

Philipp added, “My Spanish was__________when, recently, we decided to take the second class bus from Oaxaca to Puebla. At the bus station, there was no information about our__________. I had to ask... In Mexico, you often have to ask for information because you don’t always__________it on the Internet.”

After the__________, Philipp has shared advice on learning foreign languages: Whether travelling abroad or at home, find chances to have__________with others in the language you’re learning.

5 . I will be the first to admit that my German skills are quite poor. I decided to minor in German because I _________ the language. However, I was not particularly good at_________it. The grammar and word order confused me. All the nouns have genders, and it is hard to_________which noun is which. After two years of study, I still communicated in _________German, so I signed up to_________in Germany to complete my degree. It was the_________term I would ever have.

Once in Germany, I found the German I’d learned in university wasn’t _________for everyday conversation. My book knowledge fell by the wayside and I was always on edge at school and _________whether the professors would call on me in class. I only relaxed a little around my eight roommates, who were willing to speak German_________ to me and didn’t seem to __________my mistakes.

All the classes were in German and__________, and history was the worst. The professor spoke rather __________ . I sat in the front, took notes and even recorded the lectures, but nothing__________ I had no idea what the class was about.

At the end of the term, it took all of my__________to ask my history professor for a form saying I’d attended the class. He said yes and told me to__________at his office at a certain time. I’d like to say I got the form and took it back to my university to get my credit , __________I didn’t. I was too afraid to be in his office and let him see how __________ I could really understand. I was sure I was the only one in the class at such a__________level. So I gave up the meeting. Years have passed, but I still remember how it felt to__________so hard to learn another language. I think my __________ that term taught me just as much as my successes.

It was Ishmael’s Chinese language lesson at Legae English Medium School in Gaborone, Botswana.     1    (excite) and joy could be felt as students greeted their teacher in Chinese.

Ishmael, also     2    (know) as Liu Weiwei in Chinese, started her job as a Chinese teacher at the school in 2022. Now she     3    (teach) around 350 students in 14 classes per week from Standard 3 to Standard 6.

After graduating from university, Ishmael was encouraged to attend the Confucius Institute at the University of Botswana (CIUB) in 2017. During her study there, she developed     4     strong interest in the Chinese language,   culture and lifestyle. She went to study in Shanghai in 2019. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, she ended up     5     (finish) her last semester online while in Botswana.

    6     (current) she is working as a Chinese assistant teacher,     7     main teaching work includes teaching students Chinese songs, teaching them how to make paper cutting or lanterns, and teaching Chinese.

According to Ishmael, people in Botswana can benefit a lot     8     learning Chinese. She says, in China, everything is convenient like transportation and payment     9    (method), so they can learn and see how the services there can     10    (improve). People there can also go to teach English in China because of the demand for English teachers.

While in New Zealand as an exchange student, I stay with a host family. My host parents organized many activities for me at my spare time to relieve my homesickness. However, life in New Zealand isn’t easily to me. My main problem was the language, I was failed to understand much and that lasted for several week. Fortunately, I soon made several friends, whom help made me adapt gradually. They talked about life both in China and in New Zealand, learn more about each other’s culture. Now back home, I still remember the life here. For me, it is unique and valuable experience.