RZSS launches world’s first science specialist Confucius classroom

22/02/2018 in RZSS

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is excited to announce it has received funding to establish the first ever science specialist Confucius classroom in the world.

A native Chinese teacher will join the RZSS Education Team later this year to support and expand the Mandarin teaching already offered by RZSS.

To celebrate the launch of the classroom, RZSS and the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools (CISS) held an event at Edinburgh Zoo attended by the Consul General Pan Xinchun and Mr Xia Jianhui from the Chinese Embassy.

The event saw over 500 school pupils and teachers taking part in lots of activities including calligraphy, lantern making, playing Chinese instruments, jigsaws and games.

 

Sandie Robb, senior education officer at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said:

“We are all very excited to have launched our science specialist Confucius classroom which is the first of its kind. This will allow us to further promote and facilitate the learning and teaching of the Chinese language and culture.

“The success we have achieved with our Beyond the Panda education programme led to us being considered for this Confucius classroom. We are so pleased to have it up and running now to help enhance and further develop this education programme linking science with language.

Barbara Smith, RZSS Chief Executive, said:

“Thanks to the support of Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools in the University of Strathclyde and Hanban, China, we are now able to expand our Mandarin teaching much further than before. We will now be able to provide after school Mandarin sessions for families as well as lunchtime sessions for staff here at the Zoo, giving many more people an opportunity to learn and engage with the language and to promote our conservation messages.”