Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of ...

Learning to write
Chinese by hand:
a healthy practice
or a waste of
time?
Panel discussion
SLO • Netherlands institute for curriculum development
8th June, 2012
Felix Meritis
Amsterdam
1 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Organizing committee
SLO Daniela Fasoglio senior curriculum developer
project manager Dutch Chinese Pilot
Anne Beeker senior curriculum developer
core team Dutch Chinese Pilot
Josephine van den Graven project assistant
Iclon Alessandra Corda coordinator National Centre for Modern
Languages
core team Dutch Chinese Pilot
Claire Smulders teacher trainer of Chinese at Iclon Graduate
School of Teaching
core team Dutch Chinese Pilot
2 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Introduction
Writing Chinese characters by hand or electronically is a challenging discussion
topic, not only in the Netherlands but also internationally. What is the
pedagogical value of teaching pupils how to write characters by hand? Does
this activity enhance pupils’ proficiency in the Chinese language, especially
in reading? Is it worth spending a lot of time on hand-writing in the initial
stages of their language learning process? Especially keeping in mind the
relatively small amount of teaching hours available? How should Chinese
writing skills be taught and assessed in secondary education?
A group of specialists from Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain and the
Netherlands are coming together in Amsterdam today in order to discuss
these topics. Different viewpoints will be compared, various arguments will
be offered in an attempt to find mutually shared answers and recommendations.
We wish you a stimulating and pleasant day.
The organizing committee
3 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

The Dutch Pilot
Chinese as a school subject is increasingly popular in quite a few European
countries, among which the Netherlands.
In 2009 the Netherlands Institute of Curriculum Development (SLO) wrote
a curriculum proposal as a first step towards the introduction of Chinese
Language and Culture as a regular school subject in Dutch secondary
education. In 2010 the Dutch Ministry of Education allocated a subsidy to
a three-year pilot project in order to gather data on attainability, feasibility
and testability of the proposed learning contents and target goals. At the
moment, nine secondary schools participate in this project, the results of
which will be published at the end of 2013.
In June 2011 a Chinese language assessment test was carried out in the
fourth form of the pilot schools. The results showed that on average an A1
proficiency level had been achieved by the students for speaking, listening
and reading, but not for writing. A significant difference was found, too,
between writing Chinese characters using pinyin as input on the computer
(and then select the right character from the drop-down list) and writing
characters by hand.
4 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Programme
10.30 Registration and coffee
11.00 Introduction
Short outline of the Dutch Chinese pilot project
Reason and purpose of the meeting
11.25 Panel discussion
Question 1
a) reviewers
b) panel discussion
c) questions from the floor
12.25 Lunch
13.15 Panel discussion
Question 2
a) reviewers
b) panel discussion
c) questions from the floor
14.15 Coffee break
14.30 Panel discussion
Question 3
a) reviewers
b) panel discussion
c) questions from the floor
Daniela Fasoglio
Moderators:
Alessandra Corda
Daniela Fasoglio
Reviewers:
Joël Bellassen
Tin Chau Tsui
Moderators:
Alessandra Corda
Daniela Fasoglio
Reviewers:
Liesje Geyskens
Claire Smulders
Moderators:
Alessandra Corda
Daniela Fasoglio
Reviewers:
Katharine Carruthers
Jim McDonald
15.30 Coffee break
15.45 Conclusions and recommendations Anne Beeker
16.20 Closing of the meeting Daniela Fasoglio
5 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Members of the panel
Belgium
Liesje Geyskens
Liesje Geyskens studied Chinese at the Sinology
department of the University of Leuven and at
Nanjing University. While working as a Chinese
teacher in the KU Leuven language training centre
for adults, she continued studying at the same
University to become a language teacher. She
co-founded the Belgian Chinese Teacher Association
(BCLA). Together with colleagues she organizes
in-service training for Chinese teachers (LUCON). At
the moment she teaches Chinese to the bachelor
students of the Sinology department of KU Leuven. She is also active as a
teacher trainer and is co-developing Chinese teaching material for Flemish
secondary schools.
Els Hedebouw
Els Hedebouw is a full-time Chinese language
teacher in the department of sinology at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. She teaches Chinese
to first year sinology students (reading, writing,
grammar and vocabulary) and conducts teacher
training classes for mainly adult education level on
teaching grammar, vocabulary and reading. She is
also working on a PhD project titled “The processes
of collaborative activity in literature circles in
relation to language use and text comprehension.
The case of Dutch CFL learners’ literature circle discussions of Chinese
texts.” Her major research interests are Chinese foreign language
acquisition and reading in a foreign language. She is co-founder of the
Belgian Chinese Language Teachers Association (BCLA).
6 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Members of the panel
France
Joël Bellassen
Joël Bellassen has been Inspecteur Général of Chinese
Language Teaching for the Ministry of National
Education, France, since 2006. He graduated from
Paris University (PhD, dept of Chinese, dept of
Philosophy) and was a student at the Peking
Language Institute and Peking University from 1973 to
1975. Next he worked as a Chinese language teacher
in secondary education for ten years. He was
Associate Professor at the University of Paris from
1991 to 2000, Professor at INALCO from 2000 to 2006
and Research Director in the field of Chinese Didactics from 1997 to today.
Honorary president of the French Chinese Language Teachers’ Association
(president from 1987 to 2002); vice-chairman of the International Society for
Chinese Language Teaching from 1993; chief-editor in charge of Chinese
teaching programmes for secondary schools; author of several publications of
books, scientific papers, video and cd-rom teaching materials, among others
A Key to Chinese Speech and Writing, A brief History of the Chinese Language
Teaching in France, Le chinois pour tous, etc.
Germany
Henning Klöter
Henning Klöter is Professor of Chinese and Head of
the Chinese Section at the Faculty of Translation
Studies, Linguistics and Cultural Studies of the
University of Mainz (Germany). He studied Sinology
and Linguistics in Trier, Leiden, Peking and Taipei. MA
Chinese Languages and Cultures at Leiden University
in 1996. 1998–1999 Editor and translator in Taiwan.
2000–2003 research assistant (aio) at Leiden
University, PhD in 2003. 2003–2005 Mandarin
language teacher and research associate at the
Department of Chinese Languages and Literatures of Ruhr University,
Bochum (Germany). 2005–2007 postdoctoral research fellow (NWO/veni) at
the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. 2007–2009 Assistant Professor at
the Graduate Institute of International Sinology Studies of National Taiwan
Normal University (Taipei). 2003–2009 secretary and executive board
member of the European Association of Chinese Linguistics. 2009–2012
7 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Members of the panel
acting head of the Department of Chinese Languages and Literatures. Since
September 2010 2nd chairman of the Association of Chinese Teachers in
German Speaking Countries.
Great Britain
Katharine Carruthers
Katharine Carruthers is the Director of the Schools
Network (SSAT) Confucius Institute. The Schools
Network is a not-for-profit membership
organisation which aims to raise achievement in
schools in England and internationally.
Katharine has played a leading role in promoting
and developing the study of Chinese and China
across the curriculum in schools in England.
Katharine is an experienced teacher and examiner
of Chinese. She is the series editor of the new series
of Pearson textbooks for teaching Chinese for 11-16 year olds and is Chief
Examiner for Cambridge Pre-U Mandarin Chinese and Principal Examiner
for IGCSE Mandarin for Cambridge International Examinations. She is
currently working with colleagues at the Institute of Education, London
University to deliver the first year of a Postgraduate Certificate of Education
(PGCE) course for teachers of Mandarin Chinese.
Katharine graduated in Chinese from Durham University and has an MA
from the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Meryl James
Presently Co-ordinator of the Confucius Classroom
for Edinburgh City and teacher of Modern
Languages. Prior to this post Development Officer
for Perth and Kinross Council (2002-10) with
responsibility for developing and promoting all
languages offered in schools in Scotland both
primary and secondary. It included the teaching and
the training of teachers at all levels. A special focus
was the development of materials following
National Guidelines and encouraging diversity of
languages offered, especially for Chinese since 2005/6 in line with the
Government’s National China Policy.
8 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Members of the panel
Jim McDonald
Jim McDonald has been Qualifications Manager for
Modern Languages at the Scottish Qualifications
Authority (SQA) since July 2004. He has been
responsible for a range of modern languages courses
and Awards, including the introduction of National
Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin in 2008. Before
taking up the post of QM, he was a principal teacher of
modern languages, and taught French, German and
Spanish.
Lik Suen
Lik Suen is Principal Lector in Chinese at the China and
Inner Asia Department, University of London.
She graduated from Beijing Language University with
a major in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.
She has over 20 years’ experience of teaching Chinese
to foreign students. She worked for the Chinese
University of Hong Kong and joined SOAS Chinese
department in 2002.
Currently she is the Principal Lector in Chinese at SOAS.
She is also a senior examiner of Chinese language in
several exam boards in the UK. She is the author of several Chinese textbooks.
9 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Members of the panel
the Netherlands
Ya Ping (Amy) Hsiao
Ya Ping (Amy) Hsiao works as a PhD employee at the
Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies
(CELSTEC) at the Open University of the Netherlands
and as a lecturer Chinese at Tilburg University. After
her bachelor of Chinese Language & Literature
Education in Taiwan, she completed her masters in
Applied Linguistics at Edinburgh University and
Educational Science and Technology (the track of
Educational Management, Evaluation and
Assessment) at Twente University.
Amy sets out to push the boundaries of language education in multiple
directions at once. She dedicates herself to three practices of teaching
Chinese as a foreign language: 1) designing optimal instructions to alleviate
learner cognitive load and improve learning efficiency, 2) incorporating
alternative assessments into classroom activities, and 3) exploring these
pedagogical practices in technology-enhanced learning environments. Her
website, chinees-leren.nl, not only reflects these practices, but also
promotes Chinese language to the general public of Dutch speakers.
Claire Smulders
Claire Smulders (MA) grew up in Brussels where she
passed her European Baccalaureate at the European
School of Uccle. After finishing her studies of
Chinese Language and Culture at Leiden University,
Beijing University and Taiwan Normal University,
she worked as a researcher at the Law Faculty of
Utrecht University. In addition to being a teacher in
Chinese Language and Culture in three Secondary
Schools, she is presently working as a Pedagogist in
Chinese Language and Culture at Leiden University
Graduate School of Teaching (ICLON) and is, as such, involved in the
SLO-ICLON Pilot Study “ Chinees op School”.
10 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

Members of the panel
Tin Chau Tsui
Tin Chau Tsui, Senior Lecturer of Chinese language,
Department of Oriental Languages and
Communication, Zuyd University of Applied
Sciences. First teacher of the Chinese language in
secondary education in the Netherlands. Author of
the teaching method Chinees? Een makkie!
(Zhongwen? Haoxue!, Chinese? Easy Peasy!) which
has been published in The Netherlands and Sweden.
Field experience mentor of the postgraduate
program Master of Arts in Teaching Chinese as an
International Language, Hong Kong Institute of Education.
11 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?

12 | Learning to write Chinese by hand: a healthy practice or a waste of time?