Teaching and Learning Chinese in America

On Saturday May 23, I went to the Association of Chinese Schools Annual Conference in Burlington MA thinking that I would get some information on teaching Chinese. I walked into the Marriott hotel and straight to the registration desk.   Just after I filled in the form, I started to realize that this was an association of people from Taiwan.  I am from Beijing, People's Republic of China not Taiwan,  Republic of China.  I do know there are two different Chinese school systems  in America:  one is organized by and for people from Taiwan, the other  mainland China (please allow me to use this term to make the point). All I was thinking before coming was to learn about teaching Chinese in America, but didn't think about which association the conference was for.  Seeing I was a bit puzzled, the lady at the registration desk encouraged me to join the association and said there was a lot of communication between the two associations in recent years.   I signed in and paid the membership fee. 

Many of my friends are involved with Chinese schools around the country, but they are all with the mainland China association.  I started walking around the place and first found no one I knew and felt out of place.   Should I join this association?  I started to doubt my quick decision. Then I spotted a familiar face at an exhibit table – a Mandarin Chinese teacher at a local private high school.   I went to say Hi to her.  She was happy to see me and showed me the books and CDs she uses to teach Chinese.  She explained the challenges of teaching Chinese to Americans and her approach to teach Chinese to American high school students. 

After talking to her, I felt better.  Although most people here were from Taiwan, they teach Mandarin Chinese just like I do in America.  Although people in Taiwan study and use the traditional-character version of Chinese, we study and use the simplified version of Chinese and the Pinyin system.  Now, many Mandarin teachers from Taiwan teach simplified Chinese and Pinyin in America.  And they have a lot of experience.

Knowing I am from Beijing, the Chinese teacher pointed to the table next to her.  I went to introduce myself to the woman and man at the table.  It turned out to be from mainland China.  The woman is a director of the Confucius Institute at UMass Boston, and the man is with www.iMandarinPod.com – a website to promote teaching and learning Chinese.  He even went to the same University I went to in Beijing, Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious Universities in the country.  After chatting with them, I felt so good.  Okay, after all, I didn't come to a “wrong place” or a “wrong association”.  We are all Chinese and teaching Chinese language and culture in America.

With my doubt gone from my mind, I was able to enjoy the conference.  I looked at every exhibit table and looked at many books and CDs.  A woman from Flushing New York showed me her way of using computers to teach Chinese and encouraged me to do so since I am a software engineer by trade.  I learned a lot, and most of all I got a lot of inspiration from the conference.