Chinese Language Teachers Training 2018

Published on 24.06.2018

On 23 and 24 June, Groningen Confucius Institute (GCI) organized 2018 Chinese Language Teachers Training in GCI Amsterdam Branch (GCIA). This program is aimed at providing professional support for overseas Chinese language teachers. Besides Chinese language teaching methods, class management and intercultural competence, the program has involved some new format like case study on Chinese language teaching, panel discussion about Chinese language learning habits, integration of Chinese cultural elements into language education as well as introduction on Chinese as an exam subject in the schools in The Netherlands and so on. Through lectures, workshops, panel discussions, teaching demonstrations, games etc. near 30 participants from different places get together to share their experiences and explore further improvements regarding Chinese teaching.

Mrs. Jingyi Liu, Chinese Director of GCI briefly introduced the concept and layout of this training program and all the specialists coming from different places in her opening speech. She mentioned that what had motivated GCI to keep organizing this training program was that many participants showed appreciation shared benefits on the practical expertise and inspiration gained from the training. Teacher is an indispensable role in Chinese language teaching so creating a platform to get information exchange and sufficient support is of great significance to international Chinese language teachers.

Mrs. Jingyi Liu is giving the opening speech

The program started with the lecture of Prof. Jing Fang, from University of Oxford, UK on Teaching Chinese Characters and Vocabulary. Prof. Fang divides the characters into different groups according to their radicals so that students can easily recognize the denotation. And based on her rich experiences and resources, Prof. Fang introduced detailed methods that can be directly used in teaching Chinese vocabulary. The participants were very much inspired by this very interesting and effective teaching method.

Prof. Jing Fang is introducing the methods and characteristics of teaching Chinese characters and vocabulary

The program offered a case study session and a discussion session on teaching demonstration, which is a short cut of one teacher’s regular work.

Cui Hao, a teacher from GCI, combined instructions with videos together to show participants various teaching approaches and facilitate a heated discussion on the teaching cases and the participants shared their view on what suitable for their own classes.

Cui Hao is discussing classic teaching methodology with other participants

Jingfan Xie, from GCI, demonstrated that how her class was going by giving participants an actual circumstance of an HSK course and interacting with the participants as they were her students. Peers discussion afterwards created a lot of valuable points for further exploration and understanding of teaching method in respect to different type of learners.

Jingfan Xie is giving a teaching demonstration

Nina Liang, teacher from The Ideal Future Chinese International School, also as a demonstrator showed participants the particularity of organizing a class for the kids whose parents work as Chinese expats in The Netherlands. Many participants provided kind feedback to the teaching and further points regarding the difference of teaching approach between Chinese and Dutch schools were explored as well in the discussion.

Nina Liang is giving a teaching demonstration

Based on the fact that some schools in The Netherlands have selected Chinese as an exam subject, GCI invited Jessica Paardekoper, Chinese Language Project Officer from Nuffic to give a lecture on the topic: Chinese as an Official Option in Dutch Secondary School Leaving Exams. She illustrated the format and key points of the national Chinese exam in comparison with the HSK exams and projected a detailed picture on the A1 and A2 level exams that students currently take. The teachers at present expressed their appreciation for the helpful information and believe it will definitely guide their future teaching at secondary schools.

Jessica is talking about Chinese as an exam subject in Dutch secondary schools

The second day of training started with an exciting topic on Globi-trotter Board Game for Intercultural Competences that Danny Nobel and Karien Verhappen, from Globi brought to the participants. After very engaging trial of the game, the teachers realized the proper attitude that people should hold towards cultural conflict is very important and the game is very helpful for building up people’s cross-cultural competence. Many participants agreed that this fresh way of learning can be introduced into their class for inspiring students to perceive intercultural knowledge while playing a game.

Danny Nobel and Karien Verhappen are guiding participants in Globi-trotter Board Game for Intercultural Competences

Wenjia Xu and Yang Wang, teachers from GCI, jointly gave a workshop about The Design of Cultural Elements in Chinese Teaching. It is known that the purpose of language is to communicate, and communication must be related to cultural context. By showing an example of communication failure between a foreign employer and a Chinese employee, they pointed out the necessity of integrating cultural elements into Chinese language teaching. Then they led the participants to exercise like designing a class under the theme of Chinese wedding and gave examples to show the feasibility of this integration. The teachers were inspired to think creatively when taking cultural elements into consideration in Chinese language teaching.

Wenjia Xu and Yang Wang are showing cultural elements design in Chinese language class

As a highly appreciated part of the program, two panel discussions were included. One is about the Learning Habits of Chinese Learners hosted by Wei Jiang, teacher from GCI, and joined by Hong Chen, from Christelijk College Groevenbeek and Rients van Goudoever from Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet. And the other one is about How to Effectively Organize and Manage your Classroom, hosted by Ziqiao Zang, teacher from GCI, and joined by Xiaonan Li, from Gymnasium Celeanum Zwolle and Ruoling Rademaker-Pang, from Corderius College. These panelists sharied their insights and past experiences while together exploring new effective ways of Chinese language teaching with the participants.

Hong Chen, Wei Jiang and Rients are discussing about the learning habits of Chinese learners

Ruoling Rademaker-Pang, Ziqiao Zang and Xiaonan Li are discussing about efficient ways to organize and manage a class

This two-day program was prepared and held by GCI and joined by the teachers from some Dutch universities and secondary schools. The program came to its end with a closing speech by Xuefei, Knoester-Cao, Dutch Director of GCI, who extended her gratitude to those specialists and teachers having made great efforts in this program and also expressed her wish that teachers would enjoy Chinese language teaching in The Netherlands while keeping cultural self-confidence to take Chinese culture as a unique advantage. And every participant also shared her feedback and reflections from this training in the end with their own training certificates awarded from GCI and expected to meet again in the next year.