EXPERT CORNER

Last week, I was lucky enough to spend time with a Beijing-based university professor. She has accumulated a wealth of experience in Teaching Chinese Methods or “Patterns”. In her opinion, the following US-Sino collaborations implement some of the best practices for teaching Chinese (on intensive Chinese language summer programmes) today:

1. ACC – Associated Colleges of China & Hamilton College

Their curriculum “focuses on studying the Chinese language through individualized instruction with a high level of participation and interaction.”

2. HBA – Havard Beijing Academy

“On a typical weekday, students have four hours of class in the morning (lectures, drills, and quizzes) and a 50-minute one-on-one conversation session with one of the teachers in the afternoon.”

3. PIB – Princeton in Beijing

“The Princeton Chinese Language Program has established its own distinctive pedagogy while developing a … belief that a strong foundation with an emphasis on accurate pronunciation and grammar is absolutely necessary for language mastery.”

– CIB – Columbia in Beijing at Tsinghua University

“Intensive language courses, drill sessions, individual tutorials, and language partners”

– Middlebury & Capital Normal University

“The curriculum was designed for the specific needs of high intermediate and advanced Chinese language students. All students are required to take the One-on-One Content-Based Tutorial and the Area Studies Class pertinent to the host city”

– training programme for Teaching CHINESE, Masters programme, 4 holiday terms or 2 years, summer school for languages

– DIC – Duke in China & UIBE (University of International Business & Economics)

“…featuring small group instruction, practicum assignments in the community, and language partners.”

– CIEE, an international exchange organisation and CET, also a study abroad organisation are two other independent institutions also worth checking out.