THE Confucius Institute at the Ateneo de Manila University and Sun Yat-sen University in China collaborated to facilitate a teacher training program for Filipino-Chinese language educators.

The training program aims to enhance the knowledge and professional skills of Chinese language teachers in the Philippines. It was sponsored by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation.

ADMU said 14 participants engaged in a series of lectures by professors from various SYSU departments.

The participants include four students of Ateneo’s The Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design Masters in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Program.

“These lectures were designed to deepen their knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture and Chinese language teaching. Among the lecturers is Professor Zhou Xiaobing of SYSU and Beijing Language and Culture University, whose talk focused on the challenges, teaching strategies, and history of Chinese language education in the Philippines,” ADMU said.

“In addition to the training sessions, the participants also toured famous spots in Guangzhou, namely the Nanyue King Museum, Chen Clan Academy, Five Goats Statue, Shamian Island, Yong Qing Fang Old Town and Zhujiang New Town, where the Guangzhou Library, Guangdong Museum and the iconic Guangzhou Tower are located. Several teachers also visited Shenzhen, China’s technology capital,” it added.

Since 2006, the Ateneo Confucius Institute and Sun Yat-sen University have been organizing teacher training programs and seminars for local Chinese teachers both in the Philippines and China.

The two institutions hope to cultivate more local teachers to lead the way in implementing the latest and most effective language teaching methods in schools today.

ADMU and SYSU have also worked together in establishing the Master in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Program, which was launched in 2019 and is now offered by the Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design.