Confucius Institute at SF State Holds the 9th Summer Institute for Chinese Language Teachers

PST June 11th - 15th, 2018, the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University (CI at SF State) successfully held the 9th Summer Institute on Chinese Language Teaching. 64 participants from states of California, New York, Washington, Kentucky and Alabama came to attend the intensive training for enhancement of knowledge and teaching skills. The 9th Summer Institute attracted more teachers, educators and students than any previous years.

Director Jiaxin Xie delivering welcome remarks to kick off the Summer Institute

Opening ceremony

The Summer Institute focused on “content knowledge and teaching methods about Chinese language in different level courses, and new resources, technology and modes in Chinese teaching”. The Summer Institute is a one-week intensive training program for local Chinese language teachers to learn both the knowledge and skills in teaching Chinese. Six trainers, including three experts from universities, and three experienced teachers from K-12 schools.

The presentation by Professor Chaofen Sun of Stanford University titled Content knowledge about Chinese grammar in teaching different level courses. Professor Chengzhi Chu (UC-Davis ) gave the lecture named Teaching suggestions and content knowledge about Chinese characters. Starting with the content knowledge of Chinese characters and grammar, they illustrate the methods and techniques of displaying, explaining and practicing Chinese characters and grammar in classroom with specific examples and the characteristics of American students.

Lecture by Professor Chaofen Sun of Stanford University

Lecture by Professor Chengzhi Chu of UC-Davis

Ms. Lorraine S. Chao, Vice Principal of Presidio Knolls School, gave a presentation on Humorous Chinese Teaching and Easy Classroom Management. With sixteen years' experience in teaching Chinese, she shared with participants her own experience about how to learn Chinese as an ABC (American Born Chinese) and how to do effective classroom management in a relaxed and humorous way in children's Chinese class.

Ms Lorraine S. Chao sharing how to manage children's Chinese Classroom Management

Ms. Jennifer Wu gave two presentations on The Effective Skills in Teaching Chinese Phonetics, Characters, Vocabulary，and Grammar in K-12 Schools and the Application of the Teaching Mode of Reading + Writing + Thinking training in Chinese teaching. She is the Chinese specialist in the Department of English Language Learner Programs (ELLP) at Hayward Unified School District (HUSD), as well as the Chinese teacher at Hayward High School. She showed her Chinese classroom in front of participants by video, interactive games and other actions. The participants got to know that language practice can also be lively and interesting.

Ms. Jennifer Wu sharing teaching skills and activities with participants

Ms. Henny Chen, currently a Chinese teacher at Moreau Catholic High School and an adjunct faculty at Chabot College, made a presentation titled 6P in WL Teaching. With the rich experience of training Chinese language teachers across the United States, Ms. Chen shared abundant online language teaching platforms and resources with humorous language and enthusiasm. She also stressed that the premise of correct use of educational technology should have clear and definite teaching objectives. All trainees enjoyed her presentation and interacted with her for five hours.

Ms. Henny Chen sharing teaching resources and educational technology commonly used in Chinese teaching

In addition to the lectures and presentations, CI at SF State arranged an interactive round-table discussion for sharing the common interests among the participants. Professor Liping Feng, Chinese Director from Beijing Normal University, moderated the discussion and divided the participants into different groups according to their grades (K-5, 6-8, 9-12, adult). All groups discussed their common interests and exchanged their ideas on the theme and topics of the Summer Institute. They expected that the Confucius Institute would further develop its training programs to meet their needs for professional development.

Professor Liping Feng moderating discussions on professional development

Ms. Renzhu Li, Consul for Education of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, delivered a speech at the closing ceremony and drew prize for the participants. All trainees received raffle gifts from CI at SF State and were presented the Certificates of Teacher Training Program sponsored by Confucius Institute Headquarter.

Ms. Renzhu Li, Consul for Education of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, delivering a speech at the closing ceremony

Closing ceremony

The Summer Institute is recognized as one of the best training programs in the field, featuring the most needed topics, covering the most appropriate content knowledge about Chinese language, and demonstrating the most useful teaching skills. Both trainers and trainees worked together to make 2018 Summer Institute as another successful training program, informative, instructive and inspiring. They benefited greatly from the presentations by six experts and experienced teachers. Director Jiaxin Xie and Chinese Director Liping Feng appreciated the participants for their participation, cooperation and feedback. The Confucius Institute will continue to support all teachers in local schools and provide more and better professional training programs for their teaching improvement in the future.