Mother-Daughter, sisters and couples as Chinese-Learning Partner: Bits of Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia

在拉脱维亚大学孔子学院的汉语课堂上，有几对特殊的学生。

（一）母女同学篇

拉脱维亚生命科学与技术大学教学点，年逾古稀的玛格丽达和已知天命的伊内塔母女正在一起互相探讨和学习。平均每周两次课、课后还自学和复习的节奏，凭借着对中文学习的极大热情，他们几乎从不缺课的坚持了两年。妈妈玛格丽达是农大退休德语老师，去年参加汉语桥比赛，是拉脱维亚汉语桥历史上最年长的参赛选手，获得特别奖，女儿伊内塔是农大图书馆工作人员，母女俩同窗同桌，互相帮助，共同进步。

我叫罗兰，我的妈妈叫罗薇，我和妈妈一起在里加文化中学孔子课堂学习汉语，我和妈妈是同学。”在今年的拉脱维亚赛区汉语桥小学生组的赛场上，一位名叫罗兰的拉国小姑娘在自我介绍中这样说道，坐在台下的妈妈罗薇微笑着为女儿加油。罗薇说想跟女儿一起好好学习中国语言与文化，希望自己能学会制作一些地道的中国菜，并期待有一天能带着全家去中国，亲眼看看老师在课上介绍过的中国城市。

拉脱维亚大学孔子学院初级成人班上，常常会有一对姐妹花轻手轻脚地出现在了课堂上，她们分别是姐姐妮可（Nicole）和妹妹阿姆利亚（Amelie）。环顾后，她们安静地坐在了罗亚男（Alexandra）的身后写起了汉语作业。原来她们俩是拉脱维亚大学孔子学院少儿初级班的学生，是罗亚男的女儿，她们在等妈妈一起回家。因为妈妈工作的关系，两个小姑娘从小就接触中国，怀有“中国梦”，她们打算以后去中国学习和工作。每当说起女儿，罗亚男就一脸自豪，因为女儿们的汉语都比她好，她非常愿意为实现女儿的梦想一起努力。

（二）姐妹同桌篇

拉脱维亚大学孔子学院本部教学点，13岁的姐姐月亮和9岁的妹妹星星，是两位可爱德国小天使，她们同在成人高级班学习。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。姐妹俩同时参加了今年汉语桥比赛，星星获小学生高级组冠军，月亮获中学生中级组亚军，星星去年也参加了比赛，获得小学生中级组冠军。

（三）夫妻同窗篇

迪米特里和安娜斯塔西亚是里加理工大学汉语基础班的学生，也是班级里特殊的一对“学霸夫妻”。每周一和周三的下午四点半是基础班汉语课授课时间，已经毕业了的迪米特里不得不向公司借用时间提前下班，飞速赶往汉语课堂。而忙着准备硕士毕业论文的安娜斯塔西亚为了实现“中国通”的梦想，即使再忙再累也不会落下任何一次学汉语的机会。“我们在家里用汉语聊天儿觉得很有意思”，汉语成了这对学霸夫妻之间的生活调味品。在迪米特里看来，学汉语说汉语俨然成为了恋爱中最浪漫的事。从2016年9月至今，他们已经学习了四个学期的汉语，汉语见证了他们从相识相恋走到婚姻的殿堂。在2017年3月的汉语桥大学生初级组比赛中，迪米特里和安娜斯塔西亚夺得了第一名和优秀奖的好成绩，在汉语漫漫长路上，他们上下求索，互相扶持，共同进步。无独有偶，里加理工大学汉语零基础班的学生安东尼和瑞莎也是令人瞩目的一对“学霸情侣”，他们的经历与迪米特里夫妇颇为相似。在瑞莎忙于论文考试无法兼顾汉语学习之时，安东尼总是认真记上笔记，学着汉语老师的模样，在家里有板有眼的为瑞莎辅导汉语，纠正发音。2017年3月，安东尼和瑞莎一起参加了汉语水平考试，以优异的成绩通过考试，拿到了今年夏天前往中国学习的入场券。

母女同学、姐妹同桌、夫妻同窗，为了一个共同的目标，他们一起奋斗，“心之所向，随时都能扬帆起航。”

There are several pairs of special students in the Chinese class at the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia.

I.Mother and daughter as schoolmates

At the Latvia University of Life Science and Technology, the mother Margarita who is more than 70 years old is discussing and learning Chinese together with her 50 years old daughter .With a rhythm of four learning hours a week and self-study and revision, they rarely miss classes. They stick to it for two years with great enthusiasm.

Margarita is a retired German teacher from the Latvia University of Life Science and Technology, in her first year of learning Chinese, she competed in the 2017 Chinese Bridge Competition as the eldest competitor in the Latvian division by far, and she won a special award. Ineta, the daughter of Margarita, who is the librarian of Latvia University of Life Science and Technology. The mother and daughter are both classmates and deskmates, they help each other and make progress together.

“My name is Luo Lan and my mother is Luo Wei. Together with my mother, I am studying Chinese in Confucius Classroom at Riga Cultural Secondary School. My mother and I are classmates.” In this year’s Chinese Bridge Competition of Children’s group in Latvian Division, a Latvian girl named Luo Lan said in her introduction, her mother Luo Wei was sitting in the audience, smiled and cheered for her daughter. Luo Wei said that she would like to study Chinese language and culture together with her daughter. She hopes that she can cook like a Chinese chef one day. And she is also looking forward that she can travel in China with her family in the future and experience the life of China in person.

In Beginner’s Class for Adult at LUCI, there are often two little girls who named Nicole (older sister) and Amelie (younger sister) appeared quietly. After looking around, they quietly sit behind Alexandra and begin to write Chinese homework.It turned out that they are Alexandra’s daughters who also study at beginner’s class for children at LUCI. They come to wait for their mother to go home together.  Because Alexandra’s work related to China, the two little girls have been in contact with China since childhood, what’s more they want to study and work in China in the future. Alexandra is proud when she talks about her daughters because her daughters are better at Chinese learning than she is. She is eager to work hard to learn Chinese together with her daughters in order to achieve their dreams.

II. Sisters as deskmates

In Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia, the 13-year-old elder sister Amira (Yue Liang) and the 9-year-old younger sister Anais (Xing Xing) are studying in the advanced class for adult. They are two lovely German angels. 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 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. What’s more, Anais also participated in the competition last year and won the championship of the intermediate level of children’s group.

III. Couples as classmates

Dmitrijs and Anastasia are students from the basic Chinese language class of Riga Technical University, and they are also the special students of ” Cum laude couples” in the class. On Mondays and Wednesdays, at 4:30 in the afternoon, basic classes are taught in Chinese classes. Dmitrijs, who has already graduated, had to borrow time from the company to get off work early and rush to the Chinese language class. Anastasia, who is busy preparing master’s thesis, but she never lost any opportunity to learn Chinese in order to realize the dream of “China connoisseur.” “We find it very interesting to chat in Chinese at home.” Chinese has become a life condiment between the couples. In Dmitrijs’s view, learning Chinese to speak Chinese has become the most romantic thing in their love. From September 2016 to the present, they have studied Chinese for four semesters, and Chinese have witnessed their journey from acquaintances to marriage. In April 2017, the Chinese bridge college students’ junior group competition, Dmitrijs and Anastasia won first place and outstanding achievement. In the long journey of learn Chinese, they searched for and supported each other and made progress together. Coincidentally, Anatolijs Ponkratjevs and Rasa, students of the zero-based Chinese language course at the Technical University of Riga, are also an impressive pair of “Cum laude lovers.” Their experience is similar to that of Dmitrijs and his wife. When Rasa was busy with the dissertation examination and could not take into account Chinese language learning, Anthony always wrote the notes carefully and learned the appearance of the Chinese teacher. He was very knowledgeable in the family to teach Chinese to Rasa and correct her pronunciation. In March 2017, Anatolijs and Rasa participated HSK, passed the exam with excellent results, and got tickets to study in China this summer.

Mother-daughter, sisters and couples as Chinese-learning partners，for a common goal, they fight together，“Wherever you are, you can sail.”