Zheng Wen, cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, issues a language certificate to local student on March 19, 2018. It was part of the celebration on the founding of the Confucius Classroom at Chinese Culture and International Education Exchange Center in Pretoria for three years. [Photo by Song Fangcan/VCG]

In the city of Pretoria, South Africa, which is also the location of Confucius Classroom run by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, a group of teachers and volunteers have been dedicated to promoting Chinese language and culture, even during the Spring Festival, which is the grand time for Chinese family reunions. 

It's another Spring Festival for Yuan Lina to stay abroad with students, a teacher who has been working on the frontiers of overseas Chinese teaching for nine years. From Vietnam to Botswana and the current South Africa, Yuan said she has been growing with her students and witnessing every step of their language improvement. 

She was encouraged by the great performances of local children in class, but was disappointed with them not finishing homework on time and only memorizing some children's songs. 

Upon considering that, Yuan found many children's songs, picked out ones with related knowledge points, and shared them with the children in an entertaining way. 

Jin Xinyu, a volunteer from East China's Jiangsu province, gave a coloring class about the two countries' national flag to local children during the Spring Festival. 

"I felt extremely proud seeing children waving their hand-painted flags," Jin said. She also felt inspired as children extended their wishes to visit China someday. 

Volunteer Zhang Tengfei, who has been teaching Chinese in South Africa for one year, was going to return to China for a Spring Festival family reunion. But he decided to renew his stay for another year, saying "I love my career, but one year is too short, I still have many wonderful Chinese to tell, I want to stay and share." 

Volunteer Lu Shanshan said during her over-one-year teaching experience in South Africa, she was touched by her students busy making balance between life and work, but also squeezing time to learn Chinese. 

"A student of mine has been learning Chinese for five years, and now his children are also learning at Chinese schools," Lu said. 

The Confucius Classroom was awarded with the honorary title of an "Advanced Confucius Classroom" in 2018, one of the only five around the world and the only one in Africa.