Hanban Training Program on Chinese Teaching Materials for Cambodian Teachers
Sam Sophorn ( Assistant to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs)
Five staff from the University of Cambodia were members of Cambodian delegation, led by Dr. Chea Monyrith (Head of Confucius Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia) and including other Cambodian officials, educational administrators,
military commanders and university lecturers, who attended a study visit to the Southern Headquarters of the Confucius Institute at Xiamen University in Fujian Province, P.R. China from 24 to 30 October 2012. This visit aimed at exploring
Chinese language and culture.
In his remarks at the start of the training program, Dr. Zheng Tongtao (Director of the Southern Headquarters of Confucius Institute) warmly welcomed the participants and marked the strong relationship of more than 100 years between China and Cambodia. Since Cambodia is a new country to participate in Confucius program
compared to Thailand, Malaysia, Burma and others, Dr. Zheng emphasized the need for building more collaboration between the Southern Headquarters of the Confucius Institute and Cambodian counterparts in terms of exchange programs, teaching material development,
Chinese language teaching and so on. Thereafter, Brigadier General Yun Min (Commander of the Koh Kong Military Operation Zone) paid sincere thanks to the Confucius Institute for providing a wonderful opportunity to learn about Chinese language and culture and hoped that Chinese people would also learn about Khmer culture from the Cambodian participants during their stay at Xiamen University.
Even though the training program was short, it offered an integrated approach to learning, where participants experienced language learning and cultural presentations in class and explored traditional and modern Chinese culture by visiting historical sites and shopping. Simple Chinese dialogues for greeting and shopping were introduced, together with a folk song. Besides the language, Chinese painting, paper cutting and learning about knots were illustrated. Several historical sites such as a fortress during the battle between Chinese and Dutch in the 1840s, the museum of Taiwan origin, Quanzhou City, and ancient Jimei District were visited.
This particular study visit did not just provide the opportunity to learn about Chinese language and culture, but also offered possibilities for collaboration in terms of running Chinese programs and using Chinese materials for classroom teaching. Moreover,
Xiamen University’s Southern Headquarters of the Confucius Institute is willing to collaborate with Cambodian institutions in the area of Chinese language teaching.
