Spring 2025
Abu Dhabi Engagements
Showcase
Xiaobo Shui, Affiliated Senior Lecturer of Chinese Language at NYU Abu Dhabi, has initiated a series of community engagements to bring the I Got One project into the hands of learners and educators across the UAE. Leveraging her strong local connections, Xiaobo introduced the project to a wide range of audiences—from schoolchildren to teachers to university students—bridging cultures through creativity and language.
She was recently invited to serve as a judge for the First Chinese Spelling Contest in Abu Dhabi, where she shared the I Got One project with Chinese language educators from across the country. The response was enthusiastic. Many teachers expressed interest in incorporating the project’s playful, learner-driven materials into their own classrooms, especially for young or beginning learners.
In the photo on the left and below, students from Hamdan Bin Zayed School are shown using I Got One-designed character stickers to reinforce vocabulary during handwriting practice. By combining tactile interaction with traditional rigid copying exercises, the activity offered an alternative pathway for character memorization, more engaging, sensory, and memorable. The students responded with joy, many expressing affection for the colorful and imaginative designs.
Xiaobo was also invited to the Chinese New Year Celebration hosted by the Confucius Institute at Zayed University, where selected works from I Got One were showcased. These vibrant cultural artifacts served not only as visual inspiration, but as conversation starters, sparking curiosity among local students and encouraging them to sign up for Chinese language courses.
Through Xiaobo’s efforts, the I Got One project continues to travel far beyond the classroom, offering new ways to spark interest, build bridges, and cultivate joy in learning Chinese across cultures and borders.
