The Present-day Situation Of Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language In South African Secondary Schools

China and South Africa established diplomatic relations officially in 1998. Since then, the political and economic cooperation between the two countries has continuously increased, and cultural exchanges have become more frequent and steady. Under this prosperity background,Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms, the envoy of Chinese language and culture, not only have made lots of remarkable achievements,but also face kinds of challenges. Teaching Chinese as a foreign language in Secondary Schools has been being one of their important tasks due to its expansive network of partner schools, large numbers of registered participants, and extensive affected range.The present thesis is based on a research project conducted in CapeTown, the South African core area of teaching Chinese as a foreign language.It shows the study results of three representative secondary schools after following a mixed-method approach consisting of three main parts: an on-the-spot investigation of the target schools, a questionnaire section for teachers and learners and a comparative analysis of the Chinese courses involved. Therefore, the goal of the study is to summarize the positive developments and possible challenges of the current educational situation, and present suggestions to maintain and improve the quality of teaching Chinese as a foreign language in local secondary schools.