Gary Izunwa, founder of the Climbing the Rungs social mobility podcast and Outward Mobility Manager for the British Council, joined us via Zoom on 6 July to talk about the benefits he gained from doing a five-month study placement in China after graduating. Gary credits the skills, experience and...
Jake Gill (高健), CEO of the character learning app Skritter, is a long-time learner of Chinese and also has experience of teaching Mandarin. Along his journey, Jake has picked up lots of tips and tricks for making Chinese characters stick. In this post we share some of Jake’s advice from...
We spoke to a student, a member of professional staff and an academic to get their different perspectives on the value of engaging with Chinese language and culture. They have all either taken Business Confucius Institute (BCI) Chinese courses or made other efforts to build connections through learning more about...
Andrew Methven, CEO of the British advisory firm Hampton Group, first picked up Chinese when backpacking around China. After a few years of travelling he completed an MA in Chinese-English Translation and Linguistics at SOAS University of London. While studying there he met the Chinese founders of the company he...
Professor Emma Cayley, Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (LCS) at the University of Leeds, has always been a people person and enjoys languages. She studied some Mandarin after taking trips to China for work and has seen how knowing even a little Mandarin can help with...
Whilst studying for a BTEC in journalism, Nathan Krout discovered a passion for Chinese language and culture that changed the course of his life. Having never previously considered going to university, he was accepted to study Chinese at the University of Leeds and now uses his language skills in his...
With our next 8-week Chinese courses beginning in May we had a look back at the Mandarin Aspirations stories we have shared so far from evening course students. Read on to find out what motivated them to learn Chinese and understand what influenced their decision to sign up for a course...
Skritter CEO Jake Gill (高健) shows up with passion and dedication in all areas of his life, whether that is at work leading the world’s number one character writing application, or creating graffiti style character art in his spare time. During the pandemic he has returned to a regular routine of Chinese study, taking part in language-learning challenges on Instagram and sharing vibrant digital artwork...
In a guest lecture for the Business Confucius Institute in November 2020, Leeds alumnus Guy Dru Drury gave us an insight into his successful career journey. In this post we explore the lessons Mandarin learners can take from his story. From tour guiding to entrepeneurship, Guy’s career path has...
Earlier this month the Careers Centre at the University of Leeds organised a series of workshops about the top five skills that LinkedIn says employers value. We went along to find out more about these skills and to consider how Mandarin learners can demonstrate creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and emotional...
“Gary Izunwa found that the fact he'd been to China "served as an interesting platform to build relationships with p… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
“What is Chinese traditional opera and what can it tell us about contemporary China?
Join BCI teacher Xunnan on 3 Au… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
“Did you miss our previous talk with Gary Izunwa about China, employability and widening participation?
Read our blo… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…”
