On 17th January 2025, Chinese teachers of the Confucius Institute in Artois Xu Meng and Qiu Shuzhen were invited to Gambetta Middle School in Arras to conduct the Chinese cultural activities to support the Chinese elective course in the high school. The event lasted for three hours and was attended by a total of about 60 students.
The first part was Tai Chi Class. At 12 noon, Mr. Xu followed the school's Chinese teacher, teaching assistant and students to the sports hall. Mr. Xu started by leading the students through a warm-up session. He then performed the "Chen-Style Taijiquan 18 Essential Forms" for the students, followed by an explanation of the theory behind Tai Chi. Next, Xu taught them three basic Tai Chi movements as well as some moves from Chen-style Taijiquan. Lastly, Xu taught the students the traditional Kung Fu salute, and they took a group photo to commemorate the event.
The second part of the activity was Chinese ink-painting, Ms. Qiu presented the poem of Wang Anshi “The plum blossom sprigs in the corner of the wall. Alone bloom in the frosty chill. Seen from afar I know it is not snow. For a hint of the fragrance to come.” on the blackboard and explained the background of the poem and the symbolism of the plum blossom. She explained the background of the poem and the symbolism of the plum blossom, and led the students to read the poem aloud to feel the rhythm of the poem. After enjoying the poem, students began to draw with ink, straws and paints, and created unique winter plum blossom paintings under the guidance of Ms. Qiu. In the end, the students stamped a traditional Chinese seal on their paintings to complete the creation of ink-painting.
The Chinese cultural activities ended at 3pm., which were welcomed by the teachers and students of the Chinese language classes, and attracted junior high school students' interest in Chinese language and art.