San Diego State University's Confucius Institute was one of eight institutes singled out as model programs at a global Confucius conference in Beijing. The honor comes with a $1 million grant.
That grant is intended to help the Institute grow efforts like supporting Confucius Classrooms. The program supports the teaching of Mandarin Chinese and introducing students to Chinese culture in 23 Confucius Classrooms in public schools throughout San Diego and Imperial Counties.
The Institute’s classroom at San Diego Unified’s Barnard Elementary in Point Loma was also honored at the global conference by being chosen as one of four classrooms of the year out of 500 around the world.
The Institute’s director, Lilly Cheng, said these successes stem from the program’s central commitment.
“We don’t believe in teaching just language," she said. "We believe in providing relevant, salient and authentic cultural arts experiences for our students and our community.”
The Institute brings volunteers into local schools to give language, arts and other demonstrations and sends teachers and students to China on cultural exchange and training trips.
