Chinese Language and Culture for Foreign Students-Courses Design Framework in the University of Hong Kong as a Model

Abstract

There is a remarkable increase in the number of foreign students coming to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to study Mandarin in recent years. As Chinese Language is one of the hottest subjects for them to choose, in 2017, there are about 950 foreign students (undergraduates or exchange students) studying Chinese as a Foreign Language courses in the University of Hong Kong. Compared with teaching Mandarin in Beijing or Shanghai, Mandarin teachers and foreign learners have to take much more challenges inside as well as outside the classroom because 97% of the population in Hong Kong speaks Cantonese. In this paper, we demonstrate our curriculum design of Chinese as a Foreign Language courses from Level One to Level Eight and a Chinese history and culture course titled as “Exploration of Major Cultural Themes across Chinese History” at the University of Hong Kong. The medium of instruction of these courses is bilingual. We would systematically explore the detailed structure and design of courses based on our teaching team over these years of solid practice, with the aim to show a model in this area for the international educational academia to refer to.