Source: School of Foreign Languages
Written by: Shi Shuyuan
Translated by: Wu Shaowen
Proofread by: Liang Jianxin
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On January 8, 2016, the Volunteer Chinese Teachers’ Experience Sharing Meeting was held on South Campus of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). 11 volunteer Chinese teachers from the program of Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL), who were sent to the United States, the Philippines, Australia, Poland, South Korea, New Zealand, Germany and South Africa, shared their overseas Chinese teaching experience. The event was organized by the School of Foreign Languages (FLS), and hosted by the Uzbek student Tillaev Dilshod and the Jordanian student Lina Almuakat of the MTCSOL program in FLS.

At the beginning, Ms. Gu Wenli, Deputy Director of Office of International Cooperation & Exchange, and Associate Professor Zhang Shitao, Vice Dean of FLS, extended a warm welcome to the returned volunteer Chinese teachers and wished a better development of the teaching of Chinese as a second language.
 

Volunteer Chinese Teachers’ Experience Sharing Meeting
 

11 volunteer Chinese teachers shared their overseas Chinese teaching experience in 7 groups. Li Tianyu and Li Ya’nan introduced the application of immersed Chinese teaching in American classrooms and presented the Chinese teaching mode under non-native environment. Wang Xi, volunteer in the Philippines and then in Germany, compared the cultural differences between the two countries, and summarized the effect on Chinese teaching. Peng Yirui and Fang Fang summarized their experience of teaching Chinese and hosting cultural activities in Poland, and discussed difficulties in intercultural communication and the solutions. Li Yuchen concluded the local Chinese teaching mode, the use of Chinese teaching materials and local cultural activities in South Korea. Wang Dan shared her original teaching activities which emphasized on feasibility and fun in New Zealand. Liu Yang, Yang Jing and Fan Xu introduced diverse Chinese teaching patterns in Australia and shared their thinking on classroom management. Wang Zhenyu made a detailed introduction to his Chinese courses, cultural activities and life experience in South Africa, which presented a different volunteering picture.

The lively display of volunteers’ sharing captured the audience's attention. It not only improved the audience’s knowledge of local conditions and customs in other countries, but also evoked their thinking on Chinese classroom teaching and intercultural communication, and, more importantly, it strengthened students’ faith in engagement in teaching Chinese as a second language. Mr. Cao Xin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of FLS, and Associate Professor Deng Xiaoning, Director of Department of Chinese as a Second Language, also attended the meeting and made insightful comments on volunteers’ sharing.

SYSU has co-established four Confucius Institutes respectively in the Philippines, Mexico, the United States and South Africa since 2006. Since 2008, 187 postgraduates of MTCSOL have been sent to 23 countries or regions as volunteer Chinese teachers, dedicating themselves to overseas Chinese teaching and the spread of Chinese culture. The performance of volunteers has received high recognition at home and abroad, with 11 volunteers awarded "Outstanding Volunteer Chinese Teachers" by Confucius Institutes Headquarters (Hanban) and 1 winning the “Silver Award for Volunteer Service in Guangdong Province".