On Friday 6 June 2014 the Confucius Institute for Business London – CIBL and Routes into Languages successfully held a Mandarin taster session at LSE. The session was attended by over 40 students, aged between eleven and thirteen, with the aim of highlighting the importance of language and language learning in the modern world.
The event began with Nick Byrne, CIBL UK director, welcoming the students with a speech about the value of languages. This was followed by a talk from data analyst, Anthony Jarvis, explaining how learning Mandarin has given him a professional advantage and is becoming an increasingly sought after skill. After the talk students were treated to an interactive Chinese game in which they could win prizes before being split into 2 groups and taking part in Mandarin language and Chinese calligraphy sessions. The event was bought to a close by a tour of the LSE campus.
CIBL is proud to work with the Routes into Language programme and the event received very positive feedback from both students and teachers. The students came away from the event with a greater appreciation of the importance of languages, especially Mandarin, and the positive effect they can have on their futures.