On December 15th, the 2022 Symposium on Chinese Language Education in Europe, sponsored by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC) and organized by Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), was successfully held online. Themed with “Promoting the High-quality Development of Chinese Language Education in Europe”, the symposium is one of the series of activities of the 2022 International Chinese Language Education Expo, which was firstly launched in 2021. More than 120 representatives from Chinese and European Chinese language teaching organizations, universities, and language education institutions attended the symposium to discuss new goals, new demands, and new cooperation for the high-quality development of Chinese language education in Europe. Yang Jun, Deputy Director-General of CLEC, attended the event and delivered a speech, and Zhang Baojun, Vice President of BLCU, presided over the meeting and made a summary.
Yang Jun said that CLEC has always firmly regarded the promotion of international Chinese language education as a bounden responsibility, insisted on deepening cooperation, approaching demand, and leading by quality, and continued to provide teaching resources support and services for Chinese language learners, teachers, teaching organizations, and educational institutions in European countries. In the future, CLEC will continue to support the construction of majors such as Chinese language, Chinese language teacher, applied Chinese language, and minor course Chinese language in European universities, and encourage relevant Chinese language teaching organizations to carry out theme activities and implement “Chinese +” innovative projects. Furthermore, we support experts and scholars to carry out the docking application of Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education and the European language standards, educational institutions in building new brands of international Chinese language education, creating a digital “cloud” service platform, and providing high-quality online teaching resources and auxiliary services, making contributions to building new landscape, pursuing higher quality of international Chinese language education.
Closely following the topic of “Implementation and Sharing of Innovative Chinese Language Teaching Projects by Institutions”, Richmond, director of the Modern Language Center in the American International University and vice president of the European Association for Chinese Teaching, proposed “Localization of Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education”, and shared the results of the comparative research on Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education and European Chinese proficiency standards. Moreover, he introduced the future work plan of the European Association for Chinese Teaching in the field of Chinese proficiency grading standards research and development, and demonstrated the possibility and development potential of localization of Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education on the basis of the current research results. Yana Shishkova, a Chinese language teacher at 138 East-West Language School in Sofia, Bulgaria, introduced the “Life Teaching Method” of language learning, which provided valuable experience sharing for young people to learn Chinese by applying Chinese to daily life. Xie Honghua, head of the teaching work of the Sinology Department of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, introduced in detail the setting standards and functions of various Chinese courses through distinguishing credit courses and non-credit courses, and. Hamar Imre, Vice President of Roland University in Hungary and President of Central and Eastern European Regional Chinese Teacher Training Center, took the training of local Chinese language teachers in Central and Eastern Europe and the center construction as an example and shared new measures for the localization of Chinese language teaching. Zhang Li, director of the Chinese Testing Center in Spain, reviewed the establishment process of the Spanish Association for Chinese Teaching, and put forward suggestions for the sustainable development of Chinese language education from the aspects of institutional management and activity organization.
Focusing on the topic of “Construction and Demand of Chinese Language Majors (Programs) in Colleges and Universities”, Cord Eberspaecher, historian and Sinologist, professor of School of Foreign Language Studies, University of Bonn, Germany, analyzed the current demand for Chinese language education in Germany on the basis of Sino-German educational exchanges. Starting from teaching practice, Dr. Yukteshwar Kumar, professor of Department of Politics, Language and International Studies, University of Bath, UK, expounded the significance of the construction of Chinese language translation major to the development of Chinese language education. According to the history and characteristics of Chinese language education in the country, Mattia, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, demonstrated the necessity of localization of the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education, and clarified the possibility of connecting different standards through data. Andreas Guder, Sinologist, from the Chinese Language Department of the Free University of Berlin, not only introduced the current situation and characteristics of Chinese language teaching in Germany from a macro perspective, but also took the development needs of the Sinology departments of the existing 28 universities in Germany as the starting point, and put forward the key construction directions of international Chinese language education in Germany and Europe from the following seven aspects. They are the development of local teaching materials, the extension of intermediate level of teaching content, Sinology research and development, Chinese language teacher training, major construction of Chinese language teachers, publication of Chinese language and culture books, and career development prospects for Chinese language professionals. Guo Zhiyan, from School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, University of Warwick, UK, shared the experience in the curriculum classification, personnel setting, institutional management, and activity organization of the Chinese language discipline construction. Basing on the distinction between national diploma and university diploma, Jin Siyan, from the Department of Sinology of the University of Aldoba, introduced the Chinese language education innovation project of the university, and shared the key work plan of the project team in the fields of textbook development, theoretical research, translation and publishing.
In terms of the topic “Chinese Language Boosting Discipline Construction and ‘Chinese + ‘”, Zhou Minkang, the leader of the Chinese discipline of the Institute of Translation and East Asian Studies of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, took the disciplinary differences between academic education and non-academic education as an entry point to analyze the characteristics of Chinese language education in Spain, and put forward suggestions for the local research and development of Chinese language textbooks, the training of local Chinese language teachers, and the research and development of European Chinese proficiency grading standards. Nieva Chibron, from Faculty of Humanities, Primoska University, Slovenia, introduced the university’s advantageous discipline “Cultural Heritage” and the “Chinese + World Heritage” undergraduate and master’s majors built in cooperation with the CLEC, bringing more inspiration and suggestions for the future development of “Chinese + “. Starting from the actual needs of Sino-Russian economic and trade professionals, Prof. Taras Victorovich Ivchenko of the School of Languages, Russian State University for the Humanities, introduced in detail the preparation, organization, and management experience of the “Interpretation Skills Practical Training” project, which provided a reference plan for local senior interpreters and translators. Duan Yuping, Dean of the School of International Education at Dalian University of Technology, introduced the “Chinese + Business” 2022 Training Course for Russian Business Chinese Professionals established by Dalian University of Technology with the support of CLEC, offering suggestions for the comprehensive quality training of Chinese language professionals.
In response to the topic of “New Brand of International Chinese Language Education”, Alexander Westerra, Director of the Online Chinese Classroom program at the University of the Aegean, introduced the establishment experience and follow-up development and construction model of the world’s first Online Chinese Classroom, and put forward unique insights from institutional management, personnel setting, curriculum model, language and culture developing and other aspects. Roland, from the Department of Languages of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, combined with his Chinese textbook Chinese Language Guide, aiming at Chinese language beginners, explained the importance of the development of Chinese textbooks for special projects and the construction of a training system for specific groups. Chen Lixia, Director of the International Education Management Office at Beijing Language and Culture University and Executive Director of the Practice and Research Center for International Chinese Language Education, shared new practices, new projects, and new achievements of international Chinese language education, through combining with practical activities such as the national people-to-people and cultural exchange mechanism, high-level Chinese language professionals training, and the China-EU Youth Exchange Brand Project. Wang Jinhong, chairperson of the Chinese Plus, focused on the construction of the Chinese Plus’s teaching resources, the exploration of the “Language Bridge” service model, and the exploration of the cooperation model of the Chinese Plus brand institutions, fully demonstrating its goals of gathering resources, providing teaching and auxiliary services for institutions, teachers, and learners of international Chinese language education.
Zhang Baojun made a summary of the symposium. He said that Chinese language learners in Europe continued to grow, and showed the characteristics of diverse learning needs, in-depth integration of modern technology and traditional education, and integration of multiple civilizations. With the guidance of CLEC, BLCU will work together with universities, teaching organizations and related educational institutions in Europe and around the world to advance Chinese language education seminar in Europe, strengthen the theoretical and practical research of Chinese language education in Europe, and develop new paths for professionals training cooperation. Furthermore, measures will be taken to deepen the interconnection of Chinese language education in Europe, and actively promote the development of Chinese language education in Europe to a new level.
original source: http://www.chinese.cn/page/#/pcpage/article?id=1329&page=1
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