Sisters at the same table: Bits of Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia (Advanced Class for Adult of LUCI)
2016年9月，拉脱维亚大学孔子学院成人高级班迎来了两位可爱的德国小姑娘，十二岁的姐姐月亮和八岁的妹妹星星。虽然她们的年龄不大，但汉语水平却相当不错，一点儿都不输给其他成年学生。在课堂上，她们永远都非常积极并充满了正能量。她们常常坐在一起互相探讨和学习。姐姐的汉语水平更高，经常会作为小老师帮助妹妹；妹妹的发音更标准，在姐姐发音错误时，会及时纠正。班里也因为有了两位小可爱而充满了欢乐。
父母是孩子的第一任老师。从幼儿园到中学，月亮和星星的父母为她们安排了很多课程。在她们的学习过程中，她们将音乐与艺术，体育与舞蹈以及语言（德语，英语和中文）视为不同的交流方式。2008年，在月亮三岁的时候，她开始与她的母亲一起学习汉语。她们一起学习中国儿歌，诗歌和书法，并且非常享受。 2011年，全家人搬到了成都，那时星星只有两岁，全家人一起加入了学习汉语的大军。在与中国人交往的时候，她们总能受到周围人的关心和喜爱，因此姐妹俩对接触中国人和学习中国文化非常感兴趣。两年以后，这个家庭搬回了德国柏林，并于2015年年底迁往拉脱维亚里加。此后，月亮和星星继续在拉脱维亚大学孔子学院学习中文。
目前，这两个姐妹已经会说德语，英语，汉语，俄语和拉脱维亚语五种语言。他们一直积极学习不同语言并进行交流。这样既丰富了她们的文化知识，又结交了不同文化的朋友。优秀的姐妹俩今年一起参加了拉脱维亚第十五届汉语桥比赛，并分别获得了中学生中级组的第二名和小学生高级组的第一名。她们也深深理解了“天下一家”这个主题！
In September 2016, two lovely German girls came to the advanced class for adult of Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia , the 12-year-old elder sister Amira (Yue Liang) and the 8-year-old younger sister Anais (Xing Xing). Although they are young, their level of Chinese is quite good and they are not lost to other adult students at all. In class, they are always very active and full of positive energy. They often sit together to discuss and study with each other. The elder sister has a higher level of Chinese and often helps younger sister as a small teacher; Younger sister’s pronunciation is more standard and will be promptly corrected when her sister’s pronunciation is wrong. The class is also full of joy because of the two small and lovely girls.
The parents of Amira are school founders starting from preschool to middle school. In their curriculum they included Music & Arts, Physical Education & Dance and Languages (German, English and Chinese) as different codes of communication. In 2008, Amira started learning Chinese with her mother when she was 3 years old. Together they enjoyed learning Chinese nursery rhymes, poetry and calligraphy. In 2011, the whole family moved to Chengdu where Amira, her sister Anais, 2 years old at that time, and the parents continued with learning Chinese. When associating with Chinese people, they can always be cared and loved by people around them. Therefore, the sisters are very interested in contacting Chinese people and learning Chinese culture. Then, the family moved back to Berlin, Germany and later in 2015 to Riga, Latvia where Amira & Anais continued learning Chinese at the Confucius Institute of the University of Latvia.
In 2018, both sisters speak German, English, Chinese, Russian and Latvian. They have always made positive learning experiences with the communication in the different languages. Thus, both have enriched their cultural knowledge and made friends of various cultures. The excellent sisters took part in the 15th Chinese Bridge Competition in Latvia this year. Amira won the second place of intermediate level of teenager’s group and Anais won the first place of advanced level of children’s group. They understand we are one world one family!
