BOSTON, April 10 (Xinhua)
-- New media is playing an emerging
role in Chinese language learning in
the United States, an expert
said.
"Our students actually
seek technologies even we may not
give to them, so I think
there's a lot more online
dialogue," Robert Davis, executive director
of the College Board's Chinese
Language and Culture Initiatives, said
during the sixth annual National
Chinese Language Conference (NCLC) of
the United States.
"I also
think that not just Chinese, most
languages are moving away from
textbooks and instructions, moving much
more into application," Davis told
Xinhua.
"There's a variety
of ways to create the environment
for language learning," Davis said.
"With technology and new media, much
more resources are available
now."
"It became much easier
for students to be connected to
China not just through textbooks and
face-to-face communication," he
added.
Davis oversees the
offering of unique Chinese language
and cultural education programs in
K-12 schools (kindergarten-12th grade)
throughout the country through a
partnership with China.
Under a
Chinese-U.S. cultural exchange program,
Davis takes a group of American
high school students every year to
China for a six-week homestay to
get close with Chinese
families.
By using communication
tools with developed technologies, the
American students maintain close ties
with their Chinese friends after they
return to the United States. As
a result, they become part of a
Chinese-speaking community.
"This
seems quite remarkable to us, and
very interesting to the younger
generation. It's quite normal and
easy for them, so I actually
learned a lot of the technology
from the students," said
Davis.
Davis, who has been
working for 15 years in language
education both in China and in
the United States, said understanding
authentic materials and using Chinese
language in practical ways will be
incorporated into what the students do
in the future.
That is
why one of the most popular
topics at the NCLC is to
address educational benefits of using
technology and social media to create
a fun language-learning environment, he
explained.
Under the theme
"Technology in the Chinese Classroom:
Creating a 21st-Century Learning Space,"
participants of the forum learned how
to use easily accessed technology to
create projects and detailed rubrics
that engage students and make Chinese
relevant to their daily
lives.
They looked at examples
of how teachers in the Chinese
classroom have used social media to
supplement language education, and explored
how the new media stimulate students
to use language in different ways.
They also learned how to use
these sites to encourage students to
have authentic and meaningful interactions
with people in their Chinese
community.
He also said the
number of primary and secondary school
students who are learning Chinese in
the United States is
swelling.
"When I travel around
the U.S. elementary schools,
it's very fun when you see
some very young students learning
Chinese," Davis said.
"It's
not enough to have the basic
understanding of Chinese language. What
we want our students to do is
being able to be highly functional
in the language," he added.
