CLC Celebrates 25th Anniversary: A Journey of Teaching Innovations
The Chinese Language Centre (CLC) is celebrating its 25th anniversary while reflecting on its pioneering work in technology-assisted language teaching over the past 25 years.
Back in the 1990s, before CLC was formally established, a 12-million dollar project supported by the UGC and the University on “Improving Living Chinese Language Proficiency" was launched, under which different types of multimedia language learning materials, computer software and corpora were developed. To sustain the project’s impact, CLC was founded at the end of 1998, with many key project members becoming its earliest teachers.
Since its inception, CLC has undertaken various projects on blended learning, flipped classroom, and mobile learning. For example, it developed an "English-Chinese terminology database" encompassing professional terms used in the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Another example is "A Flipped Classroom for Cantonese Learning", which includes interactive listening and speaking features.
In recent years, generative AI has gained prominence. Shortly after the release of ChatGPT, CLC developed its first project to leverage AI for Chinese language learning and integrated AI elements seamlessly into teaching content and assessments.
As a major celebratory event of its 25th anniversary, CLC hosted the International Conference on Teaching and Learning Standard Chinese and Cantonese as a Second Language on 13-14 June 2024, The conference explored themes related to virtual teaching and learning (e.g., digital platforms, AI, and the metaverse). World-renowned scholars including Prof. Joël Bellassen, Prof. Furukawa Yutaka, and Prof. Marjorie Chan and Prof. Stephen Matthews delivered keynote speeches. Over 600 scholars and experts from various countries and regions participated both online and offline, making a successful conclusion to CLC’s milestone anniversary.
Recent highlights of CLC’s teaching innovations:
"A Flipped Classroom for Cantonese Learning" a platform developed by CLC with interactive listening and speaking functions.
The "English-Chinese terminology database", developed by CLC, cover professional terms used in the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
