Chinese On the afternoon of September 15, 2024, the celebration of the first anniversary of the establishment of the NPO Japan Chinese Teachers Association was held in the Education Department of the People's Republic of China Embassy in Japan. The purpose of this event is to summarize the work, look forward to the future, and further promote the high-quality development of international Chinese education.
Commemorative Conference: Work Report and Future Planning
The conference was rich in content, divided into two parts: the commemorative meeting and the cordial meeting, which reviewed the achievements of the association in the past year and looked forward to the future development direction.
The commemorative meeting officially began at 14:30 in the afternoon, presided over by Mr. Bi Wentao of Beijing Language and Culture University.
The conference kicked off with the speech of Chairman Wu Chuan. In his speech, he first reviewed the development process of the Japan Chinese Teachers Association, and affirmed the association's contributions to promoting Sino-Japanese exchanges and Japan developing Chinese language education in many fields, such as Chinese teacher training, Chinese speech contests, online lectures by famous teachers and experts, literary translation and Chinese teaching and research series of academic lectures. At the same time, it pointed out the "bottleneck" and "weakness" of Chinese language education in Japan, and emphasized the need to "learn to be a teacher and behave as a model for the world; With the purpose of "Connecting with People in Beauty and Teaching People to Fish", the focus of future work will be on the professionalization of Chinese teachers in Japan, the standardization of Chinese teaching materials, and the localization of Chinese teaching.
Next, Counselor Guo Jun of the Education Department of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Japan delivered an enthusiastic speech. Counselor Guo fully affirmed the remarkable achievements of the association in promoting Chinese language education and the popularization of Chinese in Japan, and placed high hopes on its future development. He pointed out that language is the best key to understanding a country, and that 74 universities and about 600 high schools in Japan have offered Chinese courses, and Chinese learning is becoming increasingly popular among young Japanese, especially 41.6% of "Generation Z" who "feel "friendly" about Chinese culture. Counselor Guo hoped that the association would continue to lead the process of specialization, standardization and localization of Chinese language education in Japan, promote more practical cooperation and research, and improve the teaching level. The Education Department of the Chinese Embassy in Japan will continue to support the development of the association and work with the association to promote cultural exchanges and friendly exchanges between China and Japan.
Lectures and academic exchanges
The following special lecture was presided over by Kanzaki Hongmei, deputy secretary general of the association, and delivered by literary translator Izumi Kyokyo, with the theme of "Issues in the Translation of Chinese and Japanese Literature". Mr. Quan discussed the challenges and joys of literary translation in depth, and shared his unique experience as a translator. She said that translation is a luxury to become a deep reader of the original work, and there is no absolute answer in the translation process, but more freedom and creativity. She also pointed out that the concept of fair trade helps to protect the rights and interests of translators and authors in book publishing, and looked forward to the participation of more literary translation talents and publishers to promote the sustainable development of literary creation and translation.
Subsequently, the secretariat of the association, the chairmen of the Chinese Language Teaching Committee, the International Exchange Committee, the Science and Technology Innovation Committee, the Editing and Publication Committee, the Art and Culture Committee and other committees made a summary report on the work of the past year. Secretary-General Liu Yuxing introduced the relevant content of the Japan Chinese Language Teacher Qualification Examination, which is a standardized test developed and implemented by the Japan Chinese Language Teachers Association, a NPO corporation, to determine the qualifications of Chinese teachers in Japan, and will become an important reference standard for the training, selection, employment and evaluation of Chinese teachers in various schools and educational institutions in Japan. This year's series of Chinese teacher training lectures has come to an end, the Japan Chinese Language Teacher Qualification Examination is about to start, and the first International Symposium of the Chinese Language Teachers Association will be held at Hiroshima University on November 16 and 17.
Professor Wu Xiaolin, Chairman of the Science and Technology Innovation Committee, proposed the topic of "Innovation and Model Transformation of International Chinese Education", which was refreshing to the participants. Professor Wu specifically mentioned that the association will launch the Japan Chinese Teacher Qualification Examination and Teacher Training Program in 2024, and will continue to develop a new paradigm of Chinese teaching using scientific and technological innovation in the future, and improve teaching efficiency with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Professor Wu pointed out that AI can not only reduce high labor costs, but also promote the localization of Chinese language teaching through intelligent learning systems. In the future, the association plans to promote this project from Japan to China and even the world's Chinese language education circles, and further promote the exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Japanese language and culture education and international Chinese language education.
The conference also arranged an interactive session between guests and members. Chairman of the Chinese Language Teaching Committee, Mr. Ding Lei, Ms. Yoko Matsumoto, Ms. Machida Shigeru and other Chinese language education experts answered the questions encountered by the guests in the practice of teaching Chinese in Japan.
The conference featured an interactive session between Ms. Wang Ying and Principal Ho Wai-chun of Wah Lok Fong Art School and members. President Wu Chuan presented the certificate of vice chairman of the Art and Culture Committee to Ms. Wang Ying. Ms. Wang Ying is the composer of the world's leading children's centralized literacy textbook "Thousand Character Poems", and the winner of the Tokyo Governor's Award at the 38th Sankei International Calligraphy Competition in Japan, with more than 30 years of teaching experience.
At the end of the celebration meeting, Vice Chairman Yamorihiko Takahashi delivered a closing speech.
At the evening meeting Japan Chinese, the Tibetan dance performed by the students of Hualefang Art School Japan, the Korean dance performed by the Chinese Korean National Art Troupe, the poetry recitation of Li Yongliang and Lu Si, and the Peking Opera performance of Wu Min also added a festive atmosphere to the event. The performers demonstrated the profound heritage of Chinese and Japanese cultures through exquisite skills, and won bursts of applause from the guests.
Finally, Zhao Haicheng, vice chairman of the International Exchange Committee of the Association, delivered a closing speech for the meeting.
In his closing speech, Professor Zhao Haicheng summarized the activities of the day, and once again thanked the leaders of the association and all members for their hard work, especially the excellent leadership of Chairman Wu Chuan and the selfless dedication of the secretariat team. He pointed out that the association has made remarkable achievements in the past year, and will continue to devote itself to promoting the internationalization of Chinese language teaching and promoting in-depth cultural exchanges between China and Japan in the future.
Looking to the future: Continue to promote Chinese language teaching and cultural exchanges
This conference is not only a summary of the past year, but also a prospect for the future. Under the leadership of Chairman Wu Chuan, the Japan Chinese Language Teachers Association will continue to optimize Chinese teaching resources and strengthen teacher training, especially through Japan's localized teaching materials and curriculum, so as to improve the overall level of Chinese teaching in Japan. The association will also actively promote the Japan Chinese Teacher Qualification Examination, encourage more teachers to participate in the research and practice of Chinese language teaching in Japan, and further consolidate the cultural bridge between China and Japan.
The success of the first anniversary conference marks that the Japan Chinese Language Teachers Association has entered a new stage of development, and will play a more important role in promoting Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges and teaching Chinese to Japan in the future.
(Top) 2017 photo, (Bottom) yesterday's group photo, 88-year-old Mr. Enomoto Hero is still gentle and elegant, radiant. He also improvised a Chinese folk song "In That Distant Place......
Special thanks to you
The event was supported by the Education Office of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Japan, and also supported by IPA International Education Group, Beijing Normal University Japan Alumni Association, Waseda University Institute of Chinese and Chinese Language Education, Huayi International Culture and Education Group, etc.
I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to Tsingtao Brewery for its special sponsorship!
(Draft: Hongmei, Yimei|Photography: Wang Tong, Hongmei, etc.)