On December 15th, the Southern Bay Overseas Chinese Education Center held an event titled “Taiwan Chinese Language Learning Center Operation and Teaching Experience Sharing,” as well as a “Chinese School, Mainstream Teachers, Taiwan Chinese Language Learning Center Exchange Meeting.” The event aimed to share successful experiences in promoting Chinese language teaching through collaboration with Google to facilitate Chinese language exchanges and cooperation between overseas Chinese schools and local high-tech companies.
During the event held at the Northern California Taiwan Hall, principals and teachers from Chinese language learning centers shared their experiences in operating and teaching Google Chinese language specialized classes. Almost all principals from the eight major Chinese language learning centers in the Bay Area participated in the exchange meeting, including the Silicon Valley Chinese School, San Mateo Peony Chinese School, Love to Soar Chinese School, NorCal Chinese Cultural Learning Center, Tianle Language School, the San Mateo Tzu Chi Humanistic School, and the upcoming Tzu Chi Academy at Cupertino.
In 2024, the Taiwan Hall Chinese Language Learning Center successfully organized two sessions of Google Chinese language specialized classes, which received high praise from Google engineers. The teaching team utilized the Chinese language proficiency test FastScreen 2.0 for class allocation, combined physical and online teaching, and provided recorded lessons for easy playback by students. The third session of classes will commence in January next year, with the number of classes increasing from 3 to 5.
President Liau Chun-hui of Northern California Taiwan Hall stated that bringing courses into enterprises for students to learn is a new approach different from the past. Through sharing these teaching experiences, he hopes to promote Taiwanese culture and attract greater participation and understanding from mainstream society.
Director Chuang Ya-shu of the Southern Bay Overseas Chinese Education Center mentioned that the Taiwan Chinese Language Learning Center is actively promoting Chinese language courses to enterprises, libraries, and mainstream schools. The successful collaboration with Silicon Valley’s Google has yielded significant results. She expressed special thanks to the teaching team and principals for their efforts in enabling the program to continue and grow.
Through this sharing of experiences, she hopes to collaborate with Chinese schools to make greater efforts to promote Chinese language courses to major high-tech companies in Silicon Valley and jointly enhance the “Taiwanese Chinese Language” brand.
Taiwan Hall Secretary Lai Yun-wen introduced an overview of the Google Chinese Language Project, while Teacher Wu Xiu-jun shared her teaching experience in the beginner class, emphasizing a model of “listening and speaking as primary, and reading and writing as secondary,” integrating elements of life and culture to help students gradually build a language foundation. Teacher Wang Yu-jia shared experiences in the advanced class, adjusting courses flexibly based on student feedback, and utilizing role play, situational dialogue, and showcasing achievements to allow students to apply what they have learned in real situations, enhancing learning effectiveness and sparking interest.
Google engineer Rosina, responsible for promoting enrollment in the TCML Chinese Technology Specialized Class, mentioned that when promoting Chinese language education in technology companies, one must adhere to the company’s policies and find appropriate internal channels for cooperation to smoothly carry out activities.
In the Q&A session, school principals and teachers at the event enthusiastically asked questions, creating a lively atmosphere. Overseas Chinese Affairs Commissioner Li Han-wen, President Liau Chun-hui’s wife, former President Yeh Chun-hsiung, as well as various Chinese language center principals, also attended and participated in this teaching exchange meeting.