Ni hao PSS!

Private School Swakopmund embraces cultural diversity
ELIZABETH JOSEPH
Iréne-Mari van der Walt

Private School Swakopmund (PSS) started hosting the Confucius Institute over the past year.

The Confucius Institute opened in 2004 and has since aimed to spread the Chinese language and culture throughout the world.

It operates as a volunteer programme whereby Chinese citizens are trained and sent to Confucius Institute centres worldwide to teach Mandarin Chinese.

In the Confucius Institute’s learning programme, the Chinese language is taught at six levels, of which PSS currently offers the first.

Students begin by learning pinyin, the official Romanisation of the language, before learning hànzì (Chinese characters).

Throughout the past year, PSS students have learned to make Chinese dumplings (jiaozi) and celebrated the Chinese mid-autumn festival with a scavenger hunt.

The Chinese mid-autumn festival is a harvest festival that is celebrated during the autumn full moon. This tradition dates back to the Shang Dynasty in China.