University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute at Boston holds the 2016 in-service training workshop for volunteer Chinese language teachers in the US

From Nov. 4th to 6th, local time, the University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute at Boston held the 2016 in-service training for volunteer Chinese language teachers in the US, which was attended by 154 volunteer Chinese language teachers from 16 states in the US. Guests attending and addressing the opening ceremony were Ira Jackson, Vice Provost of the University of Massachusetts Boston; Xu Yongji, Counselor for Education of the Chinese Consulate-General in New York; Li Qi, Educational Consul of the Chinese Consulate-General in New York; and officials from Confucius Institute Headquarters.

Ira Jackson, Vice Provost of the University of Massachusetts Boston, addressing the opening ceremony of the training workshop

On behalf of the University of Massachusetts, Ira Jackson welcomed all the participating volunteer Chinese language teachers and also spoke highly of their active roles in the development of US-China relations.

Xu Yongji, Counselor for Education of the Chinese Consulate-General in New York, speaking at the opening ceremony

In his remarks at the opening ceremony, Xu Yongji said that the international Chinese language education undertaken by volunteer Chinese language teachers constituted a vital part in promoting China-US cultural and people-to-people exchanges and injected fresh vitality into this field. He hoped that volunteer Chinese language teachers, through their hard work, could help more American youths learn more about China and the Chinese culture, so as to strengthen trust and friendship between people of the two countries.

At the keynote talk

This training workshop included keynote talks and group talks. In the keynote talks, Xiu Huajing, taking the campus culture in the US as the perspective, analyzed the differences between public schools in the US and schools in China and introduced how to conduct classroom management, work with parents, principals and other teachers, and promote the influence of the Chinese language. Gao Jian, in his talk themed on the use of teaching and learning folk songs, presented through interactive means to the training participants effective measures to help students memorize, consolidate and expand knowledge and emphasized the principles of integrating fun factors with situational language practice. Wang Shuhong focused on introducing various teaching resources and practical supplementary teaching tools developed by Hanban as well as other tools and platforms based on new technologies.

Volunteer Chinese language teachers sharing their understanding of the talks

Among the group talks, Li Zhaohong introduced the dynamic classroom from various perspectives, demonstrated the design and use of interactive classroom activities, and explained the issue of effectiveness in drilling language knowledge in actual use. Zhang Hua presented the basics of mixed teaching models, shared some teaching tools and strategies with epoch-making significance, and proposed the concepts and methods of differentiated teaching and individualized learning. Lu Xiwen introduced the current mainstream syllabi and standards of foreign language teaching in the US as well as the means of applying these standards into making teaching plans, designing courses and managing classroom teaching. Meng Yuanchao emphasized the importance of establishing trust with students and adopting different teaching methods to address characteristics of different classes and students. Yang Ming and Chen Lijia, focusing on classroom management, shared with the fellow volunteer teachers how to use simple and subtle strategies to create an active classroom environment and manageable discipline.

Volunteer Chinese language teachers demonstrating their learning outcome

In order to boost learning efficiency, the Confucius Institute specially designed such sections as course selection and sharing, trainee reflection, and lecturer comment. In the course selection and sharing section, the participants selected the courses they intended to attend based on quotas of the talks which were held simultaneously in five classrooms. In the next section, attendees of each talk shared their understanding with members of other talks based on the groups. In the reflection section, the participants of each group presented their learning outcomes and lecturers commented on these presentations.

A group photo of participants at the closing ceremony

The participating volunteer Chinese language teachers expressed that this training workshop offered them solutions to the problems in their teaching practice. The combination of course selection and sharing greatly enhanced the participation of volunteer Chinese language teachers and effectively stimulate their thinking on Chinese language teaching. The reflection section served to check their learning outcome.

The University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute at Boston is established in 2006 and has become a key Chinese language teacher training base in New England and the US.

Photos by Fu Chunmei, Wang Shuhong, Ding Long & Li Qiang