2020 GCI Online Chinese Language Teacher Training

Groningen Confucius Institute (GCI) has switched its 2020 Chinese Language Teacher Training from the on-site to online training due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

GCI is organising three rounds of online training on Sundays 4, 11 and 18 October 2020. Experts from Europe, US and China have been invited to give lectures and workshops on several different topics to meet both online and offline teaching needs. The content involves a usage-oriented communicative approach for the explicit teaching of Chinese grammar, the design of classroom teaching activities based on ACTFL Three Modes of Communication, the use of film and TV materials in Chinese teaching, practical activities and games for improving Chinese oral communication skills and creating interactive courseware with 10 basic functions of PowerPoint. A panel discussion from the perspectives of both students and teachers on the challenges and opportunities of online Chinese learning and teaching will also be conducted.

We cordially invite you to join us!

Dates: 4 October, 11 October and 18 October 2020 (On Sundays, 2.5 hours per training session)
Training platform: live stream on Zoom
(The Zoom meeting ID and passcode will be sent to registrants via email and NO recorded training videos will be provided)
Training fee: € 30
Registration link: please click REGISTER
(GCI will send the invoice to registrants via email within one week after completed registration. )
Registration deadline: before 2 October
Contact person : If you have any questions about this training, please feel free to contact Ms. Cui Hao by email h.cui@confuciusgroningen.nl.

Programme (click to download):

(Note: due to the time difference between the U.S. region where the training expert is located and the Netherlands, the training time on October 11 is different from the other two weeks)

Speakers and Lectures:

Dr Zhu Zhu

Dr Zhu Zhu holds a PhD in Translation Studies and is a Lecturer in Interpreting and Language Acquisition at the University of Aberdeen where she coordinates the Modern Languages, Translation and Interpreting programme. Zhu is also an external PhD supervisor for the University of Leeds. She has extensive experience in Chinese language teaching and teacher training. Before joining Aberdeen, she led Chinese language programmes in the University of Edinburgh and the University of Leeds. Her main research interests are in Second Language Acquisition and Translation Studies.

Lecture by Dr Zhu Zhu:
Have Your Students Really Got It? A Usage-Oriented Communicative Approach to Explicit Teaching of Chinese Grammar

Many students can do grammar exercises correctly but have trouble using the same grammar in productive language. Why? To help students really “get” the grammar, the key is to explain the function of a grammatical structure explicitly and to devise exercises that are meaningful to them. But how? A communicative approach that is student-centred and usage-oriented will be the answer. In this seminar, examples are given to demonstrate how to apply the approach in a Chinese language classroom for adult learners who are introduced to the 把 (ba) construction and structures related to talking about past events.

Ying Jin

Ying Jin has more than 20 years Chinese language and culture teaching experience in diverse settings, including middle schools, high schools, and colleges in both the U.S. and China. She is currently a teacher of Mandarin Chinese at the Fremont Union High School District in Cupertino, California.

Ms. Jin served as President of CLASS (Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools) in 2019 and has been a member of the CLASS board since 2015. She currently serves on the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) board.

Ms. Jin has received several awards: 2018 Teacher of the Year from ACTFL, 2017 Teacher of the Year from SWCOLT (Southwest Conference on Language Teaching), and 2016 Teacher of the Year from CLTA (California Language Teachers’ Association).

Lecture by Ying Jin:
The Design of Classroom Teaching Activities Based on ACTFL Three Modes of Communication
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has developed five goal areas, commonly referred to as the “5C's” (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, Communities). The goal area “Communication” includes three modes — interpersonal communication, interpretive communication and presentational communication. Wondering how to incorporate ACTFL Three Modes of Communication in your teaching? Running out of ideas on how to engage students in your language classroom, especially in remote learning environments? What kinds of differentiation strategies can be used to meet the needs of all learners?

In this lecture, Ms. Ying Jin will introduce a series of classroom-proven activities along with step-by-step instructions based on the three communication modes and the characteristics of differentiated instruction. The activities include Quiz Quiz Trade, Ask Ask Trade, Choice Board, etc., which will positively enhance students’ skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The audience will be asked to actively participate in sample activities and will walk away with some ideas they can easily apply to their own classroom practice.

Zhigang Liu

Zhigang Liu is a Chinese language teacher as well as an educator specialised in training teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. After obtaining his Master of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language diploma from Beijing Language and Culture University, he worked successively at the Overseas Education College of Xiamen University, the Shanghai New Oriental School, and the Beijing German Embassy School.

Mr. Liu authored When Chinese Goes Wrong and Diary of a Chinese Language Teacher. He is also the first named author of A Collection of Multimedia-Assisted Chinese Teaching Cases, having given lectures about 'Multimedia-assisted Instruction in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language' in a number of Universities including Shandong University, Shaanxi Normal University, Renmin University of China, New York University, Tufts University, Wuhan University and Zhejiang University, etc. He is running a WeChat Official Account named 麻辣汉语.

Lecture by Zhigang Liu: The use of Film and TV Materials in Chinese Teaching
In this lecture, Mr. Zhigang Liu will explain the topic in the following aspects based on the video material library for Chinese teaching he has built up:
(1) The unique utility and value of film and TV materials in Chinese teaching.
(2) Application cases of using film and TV materials in Chinese Teaching -- Taking Chinese vocabulary, grammar and culture teaching as examples.
(3) Possible teaching activities that can be designed by using film and TV materials.
(4) An introduction of the video material library for Chinese teaching - its format, scale, characteristics and shortcomings.

Fang He

Fang He, Master of TCSOL (Teachers of Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages), graduated from Capital Normal University. Her teaching career spans over 8 years and has included tenure at Confucius Institute at Alfred University as a volunteer teacher and Geneva West Street School, as a Chinese teacher of the Immersion Programme. She has also worked as a primary Chinese language teacher and homeroom teacher at Qingdao Yew Chung International School. She is now running the Wechat public account “HelaoshiTips”.

Workshop by Fang He: Create Interactive Courseware with 10 PowerPoint Basic Functions
Through this lecture, participants will learn about the 10 basic functions of PowerPoint (appear animation, highlight animation, path animation, exit animation, animation pane, trigger, animation brush, combined shapes, split shapes, cutout the background of the image), master the specific operation methods, and be able to use these basic functions flexibly to create interactive courseware.

Equipment requirements: PowerPoint (Office 2019) installed on the computer

Yang Wang

Yang Wang is a graduate of the Master’s programme in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature at the Communication University of China. She has been working for Groningen Confucius Institute (GCI) since September 2017, and is currently teaching Chinese language and calligraphy courses at GCI as well as the University of Groningen and GCI’s cooperative secondary schools. She is also coordinating the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK).

Jingfan Xie

Jingfan Xie obtained a Master's degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages at Communication University of China (CUC). She joined Groningen Confucius Institute in 2017 and is currently working as a Chinese teacher in GCI Amsterdam and as the Confucius Institute scholarship coordinator and the WeChat official account editor.

Workshop by Yang Wang and Jingfan Xie:
Practical Activities and Games for Improving Chinese Oral Communication Skills: Using the GCI Online Teahouse as Example
The Groningen Confucius Institute (GCI) has switched to online teaching and examinations since the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition to the online courses, GCI has also created and facilitated an engaging and united online Chinese community named ‘GCI Online Teahouse’, where a variety of fun games and activities have been introduced. These have been well received and help improve students’ communication skills.

In this workshop, Ms. Yang Wang and Ms. Jingfan Xie are going to share some practical activities and games that can be applied in both online and on-site teaching and learning as well as be used as supplementary materials for after-school activities. During the workshop, the trainees get the chance to observe and experience how these activities and games can be organised.

Wenjia Xu

Wenjia Xu joined Groningen Confucius Institute in July 2014, and is currently working as a Chinese teacher and as the Confucius Classroom and Teaching Point manager. A graduate from the Communication University of China in Beijing and the Central China Normal University in Wuhan, she holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. Since 2011, she has taught Chinese as a foreign language at Central China Normal University, Beijing International Studies University and Princeton in Beijing (an intensive Chinese programme at Princeton University). She co-authored the book One Hundred Thousand Whys about Traditional Chinese Culture in 2013. Believing that teaching is a way to help people to discover their unexplored potential, she truly enjoys being a teacher of language and culture.

Panel discussion by Wenjia Xu, Jonathan Maskikit and Johanna Krebs:
What Challenges and Opportunities Do Online Chinese Learning and Teaching Bring us?
In 2020, education is moving online more than ever before. In this panel discussion, two students and one teacher from GCI will share their experiences with online Chinese language learning and teaching from their respective points of view. Furthermore, they will have a discussion on the challenges, problems, potential solutions and also the opportunities of the ‘new normal’ of online language education.