It is important for overseas students to know some relevant knowledge about the subject of teaching Chineseas a foreign language when they learn Chinese in China. As a professor who engaged in this work more than 40 years, Liu Xun will give us some useful information about it.
By asking what kind of subject teaching Chinese as a foreign language is, Professor Liu Xun will lead us to understand again the nature and characteristics of this subject in the new situation. This will be helpful when you learn Chinese language in China.
First of all, let’s learn some background knowledge about the Chinese language learning. With the boom ofChinese language learning in some regions of the world, the tide of learning Mandarin Chinese also appeared in China. In China, hundreds of colleges and universities as well as more and more elementary and middle schools started to teach Chinese language to foreigners. What’s more, many companies, organizations or individuals are competing for teaching Chinese language.
Accordingly, the number of full-time and part-time teachers of teaching foreigners Chinese languagecontinues to expand. Therefore, the people participating in Chinese teaching ability test are increasing year by year. At the same time, the number of undergraduate students and graduate students major in teaching foreigners Chinese language is also rapidly increasing. Therefore, it is not difficult for foreigners to find a teacher when they study in China.
Among those who participate in Chinese teaching ability test, some are professional students graduate from the Chinese language school or foreign language school. What surprises students who learn Mandarin in China are that even many graduate students from science and technology school take this test.
All of these phenomena mentioned above make people more eager to know more about the boomingChinese language teaching. Teachers in qualified Mandarin program should think about what happens to the young profession or subject that has only a history of more than twenty years.
Let’s move our eyes to the past, the 1960s when there were some people thought that teaching Chinese to foreigners was just a piece of cake. They held that opinion because they think the teaching contents inChinese school in China are no more than “你好，我好，大家好” and “b、p、m、f”. However, it was this “piece of cake” firstly demands practitioners have qualified certification, which was got from the capacity ofteaching Chinese as foreign language certification exams.
That is to say, the standard for the teachers teaching foreigners Chinese language is very high and the range of the examination is relatively wide. At the same time, there are lots of people fail to pass it again and again.
From the name of this subject, we know that it is a subject to teach foreigners to study Chinese. However, we should realize that it is not equal to the major of Chinese language and literature in China. Therefore, the relationship between them is what we should know. What’s more, the teaching of Chinese language to foreigners is always related to the foreigners, but it is not just the teachers to teach Chinese language.
Most people think that teaching Chinese language as a second language is as simple as to teach them some basic expressions. From the way we call it, it should be the teaching that aims at the students whose mother tongue is not Chinese. Or we can say to regard Chinese language as a second language for those wholearn Mandarin in China.
The nature we just talk about is the one that is recognized at present. In accordance with the nature of this subject, all kinds of teaching activities that aim at the people don’t treat Chinese language as the native language are the scope of this subject.
In this essay, we just give some basic and brief introduction about the subject of teaching foreigners Chinese language by reviewing some background information. By introducing some history information and the present situations in detail, we can gain foreign learners’ knowledge when they learn to speak Chinese. Thus, they will learn Chinese language with great interest.
After Professor Liu Xun’ introduction about the subject of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, it is helpful for people to correct their opinion about it. When he gives a help to know the nature of this subject, we can continue to search some characteristics of this subject in the future.