STARTALK Chinese Language Teachers
Summer Institute

STARTALK, The University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute and the China Program Center offer two, grant-funded, week long summer institutes for teachers of Chinese. The China Program Center and the University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute also offer a 16-day study abroad program with language instruction classes at Shaanxi Normal University.

Programs

Summer Institute I: Integrating Culture into the Language Curriculum-Mandarin
Credit: APLING 611 - 3 Graduate Credits or
Non-credit: PRFTRN 026 - 37 PDPs
Location: Bentley University
This course takes a hands-on approach and bridges the gap between theoreticians and classroom practitioners. Participants can tie in their critical understanding of cross-cultural perspectives into numerous aspects of the language curriculum. They explore how culture has been taught traditionally and how cultural values are embodied in authentic documents. They gain awareness of potential cultural conflicts between their own culture and the culture they teach or their students’ culture. Discussion and research are directed towards developing instructional units based on a large variety of authentic documents that reflect multicultural diversity and help students discover and resolve cultural conflicts. This institute adopts a theme-based syllabus, which covers Chinese geography, history, philosophy, political system, China’s response toward the challenge from the West, and Sino-U.S. relations.
Participants are required to attend a Follow-up Day on October 17.
Summer Institute II: Methods and Materials for Teaching Mandarin
Credit: APLING 612 - 3 Graduate Credits or
Non-credit: PRFTRN 027 - 44 PDPs
Location: Bentley University
This course seeks
  1. to relate methods of teaching a foreign language to current Second Language Acquisition (SLA), research and theory and evaluate these methods;
  2. to discuss classroom problems in light of current SLA theory;
  3. to look critically at textbooks and create new, specific course material to be tested and shared among all class participants.
The course’s hands on approach bridges the gap between theoreticians and classroom practitioners: Students are encouraged through reading, discussion, teaching demonstrations, and classroom observations to explore and define the language teacher’s role and to question their experience as language learners and teachers.
Participants are required to attend a Follow-up Day on October 17.
Summer Institute III: Practicum/Field Experience in China
Credit: APLING 698 - 3 Graduate Credits or
Non-credit: PRFTRN 028 - 75 PDPs
Location: Beijing, Luoyang, Xi’an and Shanghai
Pre-requisite: APLING 611 or 612 or equivalent.
While on a study tour of China this course takes a hands-on approach and bridges the gap between theoreticians and classroom practitioners. Participants can tie in their critical understanding of cross-cultural perspectives into numerous aspects of the language curriculum. They explore how culture has been taught traditionally and how cultural values are embodied in authentic documents. They gain awareness of potential cultural conflicts between their own culture and the culture they teach or their students’ culture. Discussion and research are directed towards developing instructional units based on a large variety of authentic documents that reflect multicultural diversity and help students discover and resolve cultural conflicts.
Participants spend two weeks in China visiting important, historical sites and studying language and language instruction at International College of Chinese Studies, Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an. Traveling together with master teachers of Mandarin and 6-12th grade students allows course participants to conduct practice teaching on site while developing authentic material for lessons to be taught at home.
Summer Institute III participants are required to pay $2400 for international air travel, visa fee and instruction in Xi’an.

Credits

Attendees will earn three graduate credits and PDPs from the Applied Linguistics Graduate Department, University of Massachusetts Boston upon completion of each summer institute.

Housing

Chinese Language Teachers Summer Institutes I & II are offered as residential programs for students living 50 miles or further from Bentley University in Waltham, MA. A limited number of rooms have been reserved for participants requiring accommodations.