Presentation Proposal to CLTA-GNY 2014 Annual Conference

Title:

The Asia Society Approach to Professional Development for K–12 Chinese Language Teachers

Presenters:

Jeff Wang, Director, Education and Chinese Language Initiatives, Asia Society

Yun Qin, Senior Program Associate, Education and Chinese Language Initiatives, Asia Society

Keywords:

Professional development, K–12, Chinese language teachers, Asia Society

Description:

This presentation will share with participants the observations and understanding of the Chinese Language Initiatives (CLI) team at Asia Society toward the needs of K–12 Chinese language teachers in the U. S. and the professional development series which has been designed to meet these needs.

Along the road to becoming an effective Chinese language instructor, teachers often wonder: "How can I fill the gap between theory and practice?" The CLI team at Asia Society is providing an answer to this question with the annual Asia Society's Confucius Classrooms Teachers Institute, where Chinese teachers work together with Chinese language teaching expert Dr. Wei-ling Wu to reflect on their own teaching methodologies, and understand in a most pragmatic way how to apply teaching theories in practice.

At the same time, if language education starts from the understanding that students learn a new language in order to experience a bigger world, teachers should be tasked with showing students how to use languages as a tool to explore different life directions, and to expand their minds. With the Teachers Institute focusing on teaching methodologies—in other words, “how to teach”—the CLI team at Asia Society has also organized a series of China Studies Seminars, whose goal is to help Chinese language teachers gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of modern Chinese language and culture, and to guide teachers to integrate both traditional and contemporary cultural elements into their Chinese classrooms—in other words, “what to teach.”

With support in terms of both “how to teach” and “what to teach,” K–12 Chinese language teachers will be able to boost their teaching.