Localising Chinese

Book excerpt: This book presents innovative strategies for teaching the Chinese language to English-speaking students around the world, using in-depth research arising from a long-running and successful Chinese language teaching programme in Sydney. Throughout the book its authors emphasise the importance of teaching methods which explore the relevance of Chinese to all aspects of students’ everyday lives; ‘Localising Chinese’ by folding it into students’ everyday sociolinguistic activities performed in English. The research presented here demonstrates how, through school-driven, research-oriented service-learning, university graduates from China learnt to use student-centred learning-focused language education as a basis for professional learning. In the context of China’s growing influence in the global academic community, this book addresses the urgent need to promote effective communication and partnerships. It provides a valuable resource for language teachers and teacher educators, as well as education researchers in the areas of international education, linguistics, the sociology of education and knowledge exchange.