Chinese is no longer considered an exotic rarity in the Russian education system: it is increasingly being studied in schools as a second foreign language, and graduates can choose the Unified State Exam in Chinese. Every year, dozens of applicants enter the specialty "Theory and Methods of teaching Foreign Languages and Cultures" at KIU, where they prepare to become teachers of English and Chinese. Therefore, the issue of teaching methods of Chinese is quite acute, which, unlike European "brothers", requires a special approach.
Improving the quality of teaching Chinese - this goal was pursued by a scientific and methodological seminar organized by the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation and the Chinese Language Center of KIU. The seminar was aimed at school teachers and was held on the basis of Gymnasium No. 183.
"The methodology of teaching European languages differs from the Chinese language, so there are many white spots, pain points, problems in teaching. There are difficulties that school teachers face, and the task of the seminar was to help them overcome these difficulties, share their experience," says Anastasia Kokurina, the initiator of the event, director of the Chinese Language Center of KIU.
Svetlana Galinova, the director of Gymnasium No. 183, made a welcoming speech, stressing that the cooperation between our university and the gymnasium "does not remain on paper, but brings professional growth to both sides." Our students studying in the direction of "Theory and methodology of teaching foreign languages and cultures", within the framework of pedagogical practice, conduct Chinese language lessons in the gymnasium, and some graduates become permanent employees.
The scientific and methodological seminar consisted of three parts. In the first part, university and school teachers shared their experience of teaching Chinese. In addition to Anastasia Kokurina, the head of the East Wind language school Chen Xing Xin, the teacher of the KIU and the teacher of the Chinese language of school №18 Azalia Giniatullina, the teacher of the KIU and the teacher of the Chinese language of school No. 116 Venera Mansurova spoke. In their speeches, they touched upon the difficulties of hieroglyphic writing, the basic skills in the Chinese language that a teacher should teach, and other important methodological topics.
In the second part of the seminar, a native speaker, a gymnasium teacher Nagiulla Hasanov held an open lesson. He told how he teaches phonetics and hieroglyphics to children. The first-year students acted as students, the lesson was designed primarily for teachers, to introduce them to unique pedagogical technologies.
In the final part, a student conference was held. Students of KIU-future teachers of English and Chinese languages-discussed the theory and methodology of teaching Chinese as a foreign language.