Fifteen members of the Philippines' Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) started to learn Chinese in a course presented by the local Confucius Institute in Manila Friday, according to Xinhua.

About 30 members of staff have registered for the Mandarin course.

Starting with the four main tones in the Chinese language, the content of the curriculum covers 80 hours of language, about basic daily conversations like introductions and work description. It also has another 10-hour session for Chinese culture.

The content also caters to personnel in different offices. For immigration staff, for example, the course covers more travel terms, to better help Chinese tourists when they have a question in local areas.

"Language is the first part in establishing relations with people in other countries and understanding their culture,” said Glenn Albert Ocampo, the head executive assistant of Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), “It's very important for us to learn at least the basic Mandarin for us to fully understand our counterparts in China." 

Previously, the institute has been giving Mandarin courses to other governmental branches like the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI). In 2017, the Confucius Institute at Angeles University Foundation also gave Chinese language classes to 127 crew members of PCOO and its subordinate bureaus. 

The 80 plus 10 curriculum model has been used for three years in relevant courses at DFA and BI.

So far there are altogether four Confucius Institutes in Philippines. In addition to the one at the University of the Philippines, there are also ones at Ateneo de Manila University, Angeles University Foundation and Bulacan State University.

(Video edited by Huang Chenchen.)