An innovative teacher education program in teaching Chinese as a second language: A Philippine experience

College

Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education

Department/Unit

Science Education

Document Type

Archival Material/Manuscript

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

This paper aims to present curriculum changes in teacher education in teaching Chinese as a second language and techniques on how to cope with these changes. This paper begins with a historical background on how the Chinese curriculum was changed drastically after all the Chinese Schools were 'Filipinized in 1976. The old Chinese curriculum with 6 years of elementary education and 6 years of high school education (3 years Junior High and 3 years Senior High) was changed to a ten-year curriculum just like the English curriculum with 6 years of elementary education and 4 years of high school education. The time allotted for the Chinese curriculum was reduced from 15 hours to a maximum of 10 hours per week. Eventually three major problems arose, namely: (1) decline in student enrollment, (2) lack of qualified teachers to teach Chinese language, and (3) lack of good instructional materials. To solve these problems, several attempts were made but they all failed. In 2004, however, an innovative teacher education program in teaching Chinese as a second language was developed and implemented with a Memorandum of Agreement signed between Fujian Normal University and Chiang Kai Shek College. This program is called a "2+2 Bachelor of Secondary Education Program, major in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language". Several changes were noted in this '2+2' teacher education program in our country, namely: (1) Teacher Education programs are developed for long-term sustainable development to replace those meant for short-term general development, (2) Training programs are collaborated with a Center of Excellence in Teacher Education abroad, and (3) There is a paradigm shift in teaching Chinese Language. Currently, there are two batches of graduates from this program rendering their services to the Filipino-Chinese schools in the Philippines.

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Disciplines

Chinese Studies

Keywords

Chinese language—Study and teaching—Philippines; Teachers—Training of—Philippines

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