PORTUGUESE-CHINESE BILINGUAL SCHOOL

People are likely to be greeted with "Ni Hao," "Hello" in Chinese, when walking into the Joaquim Gomez de Souza High School, the country's first Portuguese-Chinese bilingual school.

"What's your name? What's your name in Chinese?" "My name is Han Jiarui." "My name is Mo Manni." Cai Zhaoliang, a volunteer teacher from China's Normal University of Hebei Province, was teaching Chinese to the students at the beginners' level.

All students at the school, located by the beach in Niteroi, have a Chinese name. In addition to studying the language, they also learn how to play the traditional Chinese flute called Hulusi, Chinese chess and calligraphy.

Tai Chi and shuttlecock kicking have been added to Physical Education classes. Occasionally, the school organizes exhibitions of traditional Chinese culture and takes students on field trips to see Chinese movies.

Cai, also a teacher at the Confucius Institute, said teaching at the school "is very different from teaching at college, where all students have a satisfactory level of English for it to be used as a teaching language.

"Here many students cannot communicate with us in English. We have to study Portuguese, or ask other teachers to help translate into English," he said.

All Chinese teachers who teach at the school live in Rio, have to spend over two hours commuting to Niteroi, but the experience is rewarding, said Li Su Tianke, another volunteer teacher.

"Every day I get up at four in the morning to teach a class at seven at the school. But my students are making progress every day. To me, it's been a great success. And I don't feel so tired. The students and their progress compensate all the fatigue," Li said.