An Investigation And Analytical Report On The Beginning-level Chinese Teaching At The Confucius Institute Under The University Of Canterbury

With the quick development of teaching Chinese in other countries,more Confucius Institutes have been established to satisfy their needs.The Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury(CICU),situated on the South Island of New Zealand,is chosen as the object of this study.The reason is that its establishment has triggered a dramatic increase in the number of Chinese learners on the Island.However,the situation of Chinese education in the region,characterized with most learners being beginners at diverse ages while lacking clear purposes and proper methods,needs improving accordingly to meet the needs of such rapid growth.In other words,the beginning-level Chinese teaching in New Zealand is worth of study.This paper begins with an investigation of the New Zealand educational system and the situation of Chinese teaching in the CICU.It expounds on how the current New Zealand educational system and language teaching policies affect teaching.According to the macro educational background,the current situation of beginning-level Chinese teaching for different students ages in CICU is examined by conducting a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews on the Chinese teachers of CICU.The status quo investigation was carried out through questionnaire and interviews,focusing on four elements including: namely curricula,syllabus,faculty,teaching resources.The interviews are based on questionnaire’s feedback,aiming to understand the teachers’ true recognition of teaching different ages of students,the local teachers’ views and evaluation on beginning-level Chinese teaching.The problems of the beginning-level teaching of Chinese at CICU,as revealed through the investigation as above,exist in three aspects,i.e.,the macro-language and classroom environments,teaching resources and materials,as well as teachers and students’ conditions in the teaching process.On this basis,corresponding suggestions are given.First,the Confucius Institute should build a platform for Chinese teaching resources with the cooperation of each school to formulate a reasonable curriculum.Second,the syllabus for the beginning-level Chinese teaching should be improved,standardizing and preparing teaching materials with the application to the beginning-level Chinese teaching.Third,teachers of the Chinese language should optimize their design of the beginning-level teaching,select suitable materials,and use flexible methods to improve their teaching effectiveness and language proficiency.Taking beginning-level Chinese teaching on the South Island of New Zealand as an example,this paper is intended to explore overseas Chinese teaching models,doing research of Chinese teaching in a non-target language environment.In this way,it is hoped that the paper could make contributions to the international communication of Chinese culture.