On October 26, the first National Mainstream Secondary School Chinese Language Teaching Seminar in the Philippines was inaugurated at the Confucius Institute of Red Creek University. Over 250 participants attended the seminar, including Assistant Secretary of the Department of Education Jesus Mateo, President of Red Creek University Joseph Angeles, directors of the Confucius Institute from both Chinese and Filipino sides, and principals and directors of Chinese language departments from more than 80 mainstream schools across the Philippines. Cultural Counselor Chen Yongshan from the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech.
In his speech, Counselor Chen affirmed the achievements made in promoting Chinese language education in mainstream secondary schools in the Philippines and expressed gratitude to the Department of Education for its efforts in advancing Chinese language teaching in these schools. He stated that this seminar provides an excellent platform for further promoting Chinese language education in mainstream schools in the Philippines and holds positive significance. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines will continue to provide support and assistance.
Assistant Secretary Mateo also emphasized the importance of learning Chinese in his speech. He mentioned that many Filipinos have Chinese ancestry, and the Chinese language serves as a window for them to understand Chinese culture, while learning Chinese also offers more opportunities for Filipino youth.
With the promotion of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, the Department of Education signed a cooperation agreement with the Confucius Institute of Red Creek University for the "Chinese Language Teaching Project" under the Department of Education's "Special Language Program." Chinese has been gradually introduced as an elective foreign language course in mainstream secondary schools in the Philippines, and local teacher training programs are also being further developed. During this seminar, an increasing number of mainstream secondary schools expressed interest in Chinese language education and indicated their intention to apply to the Department of Education to offer Chinese elective courses.
During the conference, the organizers also arranged for demonstrations of Chinese Peking Opera character modeling, calligraphy displays, and a presentation of Chinese language teaching materials, as well as showcased and distributed some multilingual Chinese language teaching materials provided by the National Hanban, including those in Tagalog.
