To support teachers, experts, and scholars from all over the world to initiate the building of social organizations and strengthen the communication and cooperation of international Chinese Language teachers’ associations, the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, and the Asia-Pacific Consortium on Teaching Chinese as an International Language cooperated to hold the “2021 Advanced Workshop of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching” on December 11, 2021. The theme of the workshop was “Building and Cooperating with International Chinese Language Teachers' Association”, which was hosted by the school of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Foreign Studies University and co-organized by the editorial department of the journal International Chinese Language Education. The workshop was held through the combination of ways of online and offline, recording, and live broadcasting. It invited leaders of Chinese Language teachers associations from six countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to give special reports, and held a round-table forum, inviting representatives from the above countries and International Chinese Language teaching organizations in Tianjin, Anhui, Shanxi and other places of China for a in-depth discussion.
The opening ceremony was presided over by Associate Professor Zhang Xiaohui, director of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, and professor Wu Yingcheng, rotating chairman of the Joint Meeting of Heads of International Chinese Language Education, addressed the opening ceremony. In his speech, he pointed out that in the new international situation, Chinese teaching has shifted from the internal circulation of Teaching Chinese to Foreigners to the external circulation of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages. The workshop with the theme of "Construction, Communication and Cooperation of International Chinese Teachers' Association" is an important meeting to be held in response to the new situation of Chinese teaching.
Afterwards, the delegates held a heated discussion on the topic of "How to invite international Chinese Teachers' organizations to come in and go out". They agreed that it was necessary to strengthen the contact between Chinese language education organizations in various countries and establish information communication platforms, expert databases and resource databases to realize information exchange and resource sharing. The representative of the world Society for Chinese Language Teaching expressed that the society would like to become the information transfer station of Chinese language education organizations in all countries, and called for the establishment of the secretariat of the Joint Meeting of Heads of International Chinese Language Education Organizations, in order to better serve the construction of Chinese language education organizations in all countries.
At the closing ceremony, Professor Zhu Yong, vice dean of school of Chinese Language and Literature of BFSU, made a summary speech on the workshop, saying that the workshop was rich in content, profound in thought and full of inspiration. He also looked forward to the future cooperation and exchange of international Chinese teachers' organizations.
As one of the activities of the 2021 International Chinese Education Exchange Week, the workshop attracted wide attention, more than 200 people from the field of Chinese education at home and abroad participated in the conference online. The results of the conference not only enhanced the mutual understanding between Chinese teachers' organizations at home and abroad, but also laid a solid foundation for further cooperation, which is conducive to promoting the regionalization, specialization and refinement of Chinese language education organizations around the world. In addition, the combination of online and offline, video and live broadcast ensured the continuity and efficiency of the workshop, and overcame the time difference of international conferences, which won high recognition from guests and audience.
