The Confucius Institute in the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados (UWI, Cave Hill) held the graduation ceremony for students majoring in Chinese. Ms. Wang Ke, Chinese ambassador to Barbados, Dr. David Berry, Dean of the Faculty of Law School of UWI Cave Hill, Dr. Jennifer Obidah, Dean of the Faculty of School of Humanities, and Dr. Anthony Fisher, Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange attended the celebration. Among the 400 participants at the ceremony were students majoring in Chinese at the Barbados Confucius Institute, Chinese people living in Barbados and other community representatives.
The graduation ceremony began with a cheerful Barbados dance. Then, Prof. SongQingbao, Chinese Co-Director of the CI, introduced the development and current status of the CI at Barbados. He also played a video reviewing the work of CI. Prof. Song encouraged the students to actively attend all kinds of Chinese language exchange programs related to Chinese study. This was followed by a performance given by 66 students from the Chinese class. The performance included Chinese songs, classical dance, opera, tongue twisters and martial arts. The performance expressed the students’ understanding of Chinese culture. After that, the “Lucky Draw Lottery” session brought another climax to the celebration.
Following the performance, Ambassador Wang Ke, Dr. David Berry and Dr. Jennifer Obidah together presented the graduation certificates to excellent student representatives. In her speech, Ambassador Wang extended congratulations to the graduates. She also spoke highly of the exceptional work of the CI at Barbados and praised the students for their wonderful performance. Ambassador Wang encouraged the students to pursue their Chinese learning and bring it to a higher level.
Finally, CI also presented the attendees with traditional Chinese food and played a movie named “We Get Married.” With so many interesting and memorable events, the celebration was a unique cultural experience. The wonderful activities were well-received by the participants. In addition,the diligent work of the CI teachers was well-recognized by students and their parents. Many students said that they would continue to enroll in Chinese programs at the Barbados CI next semester.
