To prepare Purdue faculty and staff to be functional in basic Chinese while traveling in China, the Confucius Institute taught “Traveling in China-Conversational Chinese”.  Conversations at the airport, restaurant, hotel, train station or simply on the streets asking for directions, became challenging to many of the students, but their strong motivation and interest in learning make this class such a fun and engaging experience for the instructors.

2012年4月7日，美国普渡大学孔子学院举行了第五届普渡大学汉语口语暨中华才艺大奖赛。30余名选手按学习汉语的年份分为3个年级组参赛。获得一等奖的选手将于5月份在芝加哥参加美国西北地区汉语大赛。据普渡大学孔子学院院长洪玮教授介绍，该校每学期约有300多名学生学习汉语，他们不仅学习日常用语，更多的是对中国文化的学习和了解。