Aldin Mutembei, the Tanzanian director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of a workshop at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Dec. 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

About 80 Chinese language teachers from both Tanzania and China on Saturday began attending a two-day workshop at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with the aim of improving their teaching skills and knowledge.

The workshop attracted teachers from China, the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam, the Confucius Institute at the University of Dodoma, the Confucius Classroom at the State University of Zanzibar, the Tanzania Institute of Education, the SAY Foundation in Zanzibar, and primary and secondary schools across the East African country.

Aldin Mutembei, the Tanzanian director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam, said the workshop provides a unique opportunity to enhance professional knowledge and skills that enrich the students' learning experience.

Mutembei said teaching the Chinese language in Tanzania and across Africa has gained increasing importance due to the deepening diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties between China and the African continent, adding that understanding the Chinese language can lead to stronger people-to-people ties, allowing Tanzanians to communicate and cooperate more effectively with Chinese people.

Chinese language teachers attend the opening ceremony of a workshop at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Dec. 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Emmanuel Herman)

Qu Songming, deputy director of the Exchange Division at the Chinese Center for Language Education and Cooperation, said the language is a tool for human communication of ideas, a carrier for inheriting civilization, and a bridge for enhancing understanding.

He noted that to date, more than 190 countries around the world have carried out Chinese language teaching projects, 85 countries have incorporated Chinese into their national education systems, more than 80,000 schools and training institutions have opened Chinese language courses, and the number of overseas Chinese language learners has exceeded 30 million.

Neema Mwampashi, a Tanzanian teacher teaching the Chinese language at the state-owned Arusha Secondary School in the Arusha region, said the workshop will improve her teaching skills and knowledge.