Selena Pjević, Professor of Chinese Language from Belgrade, held an introductory lecture for the students and professors (and the school principal) of the Grammar School in Banja Luka on 7 May 2018.
During the more than one-hour lecture, she explained to the students that it is not so difficult to learn Chinese, and encouraged them to try to learn something new and something completely different from what they have been studying so far.
Selena started the lesson by telling the students that one fifth of the world population studies/speaks Chinese and explained why they should start learning this melodic language. She talked about and explained the origin of Chinese characters and illustrated them with pictures in her presentation. The students were given working material to practice writing the Chinese characters and pronouncing the given words.
At the end of the lecture, they all mastered two lessons and learnt to pronounce and write several words and sentences in Chinese, which should be evidence enough for them that learning Chinese does not necessarily have to be hard. Selena then showed two videos of Beijing and Shanghai and told them that they could also get scholarship in the future and visit these cities.
After the lecture, many students approached the representatives of the CI at the University of Banja Luka and asked how they could register for the course in Chinese language.
Optional lessons in Chinese language start in September.
Selena Pjević teaches the Chinese language at Philological High School in Belgrade and is the author of the curriculum and the textbook from which Chinese is taught among secondary school students.