In the afternoon on June 14, 2016, all seats have been occupied in the gym of Assiniboine Avenue Elementary School, in Oromocto. There were more than 200 people--- the official from Bureau of Education, primary school students, parents, teachers, as well as Director Jing Teng, Vice-director Minhong Li, CINB teacher Jie Jiang, Fazhou Fei, Nannan Li and so on, gathering together to enjoy the first "Chinese culture day" held by CINB in this city.

The very important guest Mrs. Jacqueline·Firlotte is from Bureau of Education. First, principal of Assiniboine Avenue Elementary School, Mrs. Beth·Ryder made a speech. She fully affirmed the value of Confucius Institute teachers’ work at school, sharing the wonderful Chinese culture with the children, as well letting the children experience China for the first time. Through the learning of more than ten weeks, our kids have been fully curious about Chinese culture, such as Chinese songs, dance, handcraft, Chinese characters, chopsticks, panda and the landscape and so on. Finally, the principal expressed deep gratitude to the two Chinese teachers Minhong Li and Nannan Li by presenting cards and flowers. Meanwhile, all the audiences broke into warm applause. Mrs. Firlotte also made a warm speech. She fully affirmed the idea of Assiniboine Avenue Elementary School and their efforts of bringing multi-culture into the campus, as well as the contribution of CINB to spreading the multi-culture, and she wished a complete success of our “Chinese Culture Day”. 

This activity was characterized with a large group of participants, young kids performers, and parents mostly from the biggest military base Gagetown. There were more than 100 students from 6 classes of grade 1 and grade 2 being involved. Their average age is only five or six years old. But they danced so well, and got so big applause with enthusiastic cheers by performing Chinese handkerchief dance, ribbon dance, fan dance, umbrella dance, lantern dance, and aerobics in perfect position. It’s hard to imagine young kids could let the handkerchief rapidly rotate, play fans skillfully, let umbrella dance, let lanterns fly up and down and wave ribbon like dancing snake and flying dragon. The parents showed the pride on their face, all of them were moved by such outstanding performances of their own kids, and felt honored for the children to have a chance to learn in a multi-cultural atmosphere. When Chinese songs "jasmine", "wish you prosperity", "blooming peach blossom", "dancing tonight", "spring dawn" sounded in the gym, all the audiences moved with music rhythm and followed the kids’ dance to shake up. The gym was completely intoxicated in the atmosphere of Chinese culture.

We believe this successful activity will actively affect the Chinese teaching at school in the future, get more recognition from our principal and teachers, and give us more space to further development. And at the same time, it also has a great influence on surrounding primary and middle schools, and has laid a good foundation of promoting Chinese culture in this city. We believe that there will be more and more Chinese cultural activities in this area, bringing greater influence on the neighborhood. We believe Confucius Institute will make more contributions to the local multi-cultural exchange.

百名小学生在“中国文化日”跳起中国舞蹈

       2016年6月14日下午一点，加拿大新布伦瑞克省奥罗莫科托市Assiniboine Avenue Elementary School 体育馆里座无虚席，来自教育局的官员、小学生、家长、老师，以及孔子学院滕菁院长、李敏红副院长和费发洲老师、蒋洁老师和志愿者李楠楠老师等200余人齐聚一堂，共同见证这个城市第一次“中国文化日”活动的隆重举行。

       本次活动的嘉宾是来自教育局的多元文化官员JacquelineFirlotte女士。首先小学校长BethRyder女士致辞，她充分肯定了孔子学院老师们走进学校，把中国文化的神奇与精彩分享给了孩子们，让孩子对中国这个遥远的国度第一次有了感觉，十几周的教学让学生对中国的歌曲、舞蹈、手工、汉字、筷子、熊猫、山水等都充满了好奇与赞叹。校长最后用贺卡和鲜花对两位来自孔院的李楠楠和李敏红老师表达了深深谢意，在场所有观众响起了热烈掌声。接着教育局Mrs. Firlotte也发表了热情洋溢的讲话，她特别肯定了这个城市第一次多元文化活动的顺利举行，肯定了Assiniboine小学的办学理念，以及为多元文化走进校园所做的努力，肯定了孔子学院对全省中小学多元文化传播所做的贡献，并预祝这次活动圆满成功。

       这次活动的特点是参与人数多、学生年龄小，而且家长大多来自周边最大的兵营Gagetown。参与演出的六个班级有100多名学生，而且都是一二年级，年龄只有五六岁，但是看他们跳起舞来都是有模有样，把中国的手绢舞、彩带舞、扇子舞、花伞舞、灯笼舞、健美操个个演绎得精彩到位，博得了全场一阵又一阵热烈的掌声与热情的喝彩声。没想到那么小的孩子也可以让手绢飞速旋转，让扇子花儿一样开放，让花伞舞动起来，让灯笼上下翻飞，让彩带似蛇狂舞。孩子们的父母脸上都露出了骄傲和自豪的神情，他们为自己的孩子有这样出色的表演而感动，为孩子在这样有多元文化熏陶的学校学习而高兴。当《茉莉花》、《恭喜发财》、《桃花朵朵开》、《今夜舞起来》、《春眠不觉晓》等一首首中国乐曲响起时，所有在场的人都跟着音乐节拍，跟着孩子们的舞步摇动起来，此时我们看到台上台下完全陶醉在了中国文化的氛围之中。

       这次活动圆满成功，相信今后对这所学校中国文化的教学会起到催化剂的作用，使校长和教师们更加认可我们的教学，会给我们更多的表现空间，同时对周边其他中小学也是一个巨大影响，为在这个城市继续推广汉语和汉文化奠定了良好基础。相信我们在这个城市的文化活动会越来越多，影响也会越来越大，相信孔院对当地多元文化交流会作出更多更大的贡献。

(李敏红、李楠楠 供稿)