OUC New Product for On-the-go Learning First Introduced at the 5th National Chinese Language Conference

The 5th National Chinese Language Conference, sponsored by China's Hanban (Confucius Institute Headquarters), The US College Board, and The Asia Society, was held from April 12th to the 14th, 2012, in Washington, DC. More than 1300 Educational administrators, presidents and teachers from secondary and primary schools, as well the presidents of various Confucius institutes, attended the conference. The Chinese Language Center of the Open University of China （OUC） participated

in the conference to promote its newly developed APP courseware—Time to Talk Chinese—Chinese for Children—all designed for on-the-go learners.

A teacher watching the staff give a product demonstration

As the only iOS iPad application software available to teach Chinese to children, Time to Talk Chinese—Chinese for Children, attracted much attention from the attendees. Nearly one hundred teachers made reservations to download the programme on the spot (this programme can be downloaded from the Apple APP store).

Teachers making reservations

The E-learning project executive, Mr. Zhou Yalun, from the Confucius Institute at Michigan State University (CI-MSU), used the co-developed OUC/Michigan State courseware Chinese Your Way as an example of the cooperation between the two Universities over the past 5 years. Chinese Your Way is a web-based Chinese courseware programme designed for high school students in the US. It utilizes the "sandwich" teaching method to help students learn Chinese with fewer difficulties. In addition to unique teaching methods, cultural practices and beliefs are used to keep students interested. The courseware has been applauded by many high school Chinese learners, with more than 3000 American students having registered in the programme.

Director Peng Zengan of Division of Teaching Materials in Hanban, focused his speech on promoting higher quality teaching materials to cater to the needs of North American Chinese learners. The multimedia teaching materials Time to Talk Chinese and Easy Chinese, both produced by our center, were included on the list of recommended materials.

The annual National Chinese Language Conference is one of the most important conferences focused on Chinese Language teaching in the primary and secondary schools of America. This year's conference was themed "The State of the Field: Proficiency, Sustainability, and Beyond". The programme included 5 plenary sessions and 6 breakout sessions, on the topics of the current state of Chinese language education, Chinese teaching and the global vision, Sino-US cultural exchange, and so on. The 60 different sessions were all lead by experts in their field. Participants included:

Mr. Zhang Yesui, the Ambassador of China to the US
John D. Negroponte, the former US deputy secretary of state
Chuck Hagel, co-chair of the President's China 100,000 Strong Initiative Advisory
Committee and former member of the United States Senate
Ms. Xu Lin, director general and chief executive of Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters

(By Zhou Jinlan and Mao Dan of the OUC from Washington D.C.)