As a Chinese partner institute of Confucius Institute, Chinese Language Centre of the Open University of China (OUC) enrolls students on the Confucius Institute (Hanban) Scholarship every year.
The OUC Chinese Language Centre gives full play to its advantage in online teaching to organise Chinese teaching combined with offline instruction for the international students on scholarships during their study in China. Classes are established for students and teaching management is carried out online via its teaching platform. The tutors release teaching materials, including notices, teaching plans, school assignments, auxiliary teaching resources, etc., through both online and offline channels, and urge students to complete the learning tasks. In addition to daily teaching, the Centre also holds monthly teaching activities for evaluation purposes to examine the development of students’ Chinese language proficiency and to put into practice the results of the students' language studies, organises training for the preparation of exams at regular intervals, and helps students review knowledge for the HSK test at corresponding levels from the four aspects of listening, speaking, reading and writing, in order to consolidate students’ knowledge, lay a solid foundation for their Chinese language skills and help them successfully pass higher-level Chinese proficiency tests.
Kim Suyun from South Korea had studied Chinese for more than one year before she came to study in the OUC on September 1, 2016 as a student on a Confucius Institute scholarship. She said that a friend recommended that she study in the OUC because of its flexible teaching programme. Previously, she had studied Chinese in South Korea for more than one year, but still needed to make progress in pronunciation and grammar. Although only one and a half months have passed since she came to study in China, her Chinese language level has greatly improved. When asked about her experience, she made the enthusiastic statement, "The teaching mode of the Centre suits me very well. Every week the tutors will send the teaching materials for the week's courses to each of us by WeChat or e-mail so that we can review them at home. At the end of the week, the tutors will send the assignments to us via WeChat or e-mail again and patiently answer our questions on WeChat. This kind of online and offline study is a great time saver and makes it convenient for us to study anytime and anywhere. Now, learning not only means sitting in the classroom and listening to the teachers, but also studying by WeChat on the road, in the morning, at any time and any place. I like this way of learning.”
Ionut Nastase, a sophomore from Romania, had been studying Chinese for one year at the Confucius Institute in Romania before coming to China. Speaking of his reasons for choosing the OUC to study Chinese, Ionut Nastase said he was determined to come here to study at the recommendation of a Chinese teacher in Romania. "The teacher told me that the OUC has huge teaching resources and innovative teaching methods. I am very happy to come and study here, because the university not only provides us with high quality courses, but also gives us meticulous care. Above all, the OUC has provided us with many colorful cultural activities.” Ionut Nastase said that the most impressive activity was that led by Miss Chen Meng, who took students to see the process of making writing brushes in a century-old brush making factory, Dai Yuexuan, and practice writing their names with the brushes. He was also lucky enough to get to know Mr. Yin Guanglu, a representative of a new generation of Chinese calligraphers, who gave him a piece of his calligraphic work. He also brought back his own “name tag” written with a brush. This, he said, was an unforgettable experience for him.
Student Tahsin Safarov from Tajikistan has an elegant Chinese name and a good Chinese language foundation. He learned about the Centre online, and saw that it adapted appropriate learning methods according to the habits of different students and had adopted a teaching method integrating online and offline learning means to help students improve their Chinese language proficiency and pass the HSK exam. So he enrolled into the curriculum of the Centre and received a scholarship provided by Confucius Institute. Talking about his learning experiences, Tahsin Safarov said that, “The thorough and patient explanations given by the tutors of the Centre benefit me a lot. Miss Zhu Lu not only answers the problems which I encounter when I do exercises, but also helps me conclude related knowledge points and draw inferences from the exercises. I am grateful for her help. Usually, we communicate with each other through WeChat. Each time she would explain the problems I encountered patiently and quickly. I believe that with her help I will be able to successfully pass the Chinese Proficiency Test and achieve my dream.
By Chu Xiaoji ,OUC
Resource: Chinese TV News