On April 23, the Confucius Institute at Ateneo de Davao University and JOJI-ILAGAN International School Group in the Philippines jointly launched a new semester of online Chinese language instruction. The course, conducted via MS Teams, is attended by 29 college students of JOJI-ILAGAN International School, all of whom are beginners with no prior knowledge of Chinese.

The cooperation agreement was signed on February 10, and JOJI-ILAGAN International School includes Chinese in its elective foreign language course catalog of the college division. The course was first introduced to students majoring in Culinary Management who are mainly of native Filipino ethnicity, and have little knowledge about Chinese, but hold keen interest in learning. To ensure the quality of instruction, CI-AdDU tailored the program for the students, focusing on oral skills.

The cooperation was made possible through the facilitation of the Chinese Consulate General in Davao and the active coordination of the International Chinese Education Office of HQU. Due to the impact of the pandemic, the course is now conducted primarily online. Once the pandemic subsides and offline teaching resumes, the Confucius Institute plans to explore new models of collaboration with the JOJI-ILAGAN International School Group.