Research Of Teaching Chinese Under IBPYP International Schools

With the rapid development of the global economy, the progress of the Chinese culture and the growing ties between regions has resulted in the rapid expansion of the teaching of Chinese in international education. Chinese as an additional language course has been widely recognized as a valuable international communication tool. By offering this program in the international schools it is playing an important role in promoting the teaching of the Chinese language internationally. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, a highly recognized international course is being offered in 4380 Schools in 144 countries. Within the IB Primary Year Program (PYP) international schools, there is little current research on Chinese curriculum development. The author has conducted surveys at four IB PYP international schools focusing on their Chinese programs. These surveys focus on the characteristics of language courses at the IB PYP International Schools, the application of the PYP teaching philosophy in the teaching of Chinese and the characteristics and challenges of teaching Chinese within the PYP curriculum. All the findings were supported by findings from teacher and student questionnaires and interviews. The data has been analyzed and summarized in this research paper. I hope this paper will provide reference points for the teaching of Chinese in IB PYP International Schools and better develop Chinese as an additional language course. Meanwhile, the author also hopes that this paper can contribute to the promotion of the teaching of Chinese globally.This paper has five chapters. Chapter 1 presents a review of literature and research, a description of the survey design, the survey content and the the procedures needed in the implementation of a language program. A questionnaire and survey was conducted with teachers and students in four international schools in the Asia-Pacific region in an attempt to better understand their Chinese curriculum, classroom activities and their student learning outcomes. Chapter 2 includes the characteristics of the PYP language courses and some of the challenges caused by the flexibility of its guiding documents. Although the PYP curriculum has expanded rapidly in China, its additional language teaching has not been the focus of research. I believe it is necessary to introduce to the reader the diversity and complexity of the PYP curriculum in order to help them understand the make up of the Chinese courses in PYP schools. Chapter 3 focuses on the investigation and the implementation of the pedagogical approaches of'inquiry'used in Chinese teaching at four PYP international schools. These schools include the Western Academy of Beijing, Beijing City International School, Hanoi United Nations College and Singapore Canadian International School. The in-depth and comprehensive investigation focused on the factors affecting Chinese curriculum models, how Chinese teachers helped develop the PYP Learner Profile into their curriculum and how the IB language guiding documents affect Chinese language teaching. The findings from the surveys and teacher interviews have been statistically analyzed. Based on the data analysis from the previous chapter, Chapter 4 summarizes the characteristics of teaching Chinese as additional language within the PYP program. Chapter 5 contains recommendations for the revision of the Chinese teaching practice and methodologies at PYP international schools. Finally, Chapter 6 summarizes the key points of the previous chapters.