The English and Foreign Languages Branch of the Ministry of Education has commenced the “Foreign Language Teacher Professional Development Programme,” a series continuous of workshops for in-service foreign language teachers in collaboration with the National Institute of Education under the General Education Modernization Project. Therefore, Ven. Prof. Nadalagamuwe Dhammadinna Thero, Head of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Kelaniya, Dr. Jani Samarakoon, Co-Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya and Assoc. Prof. Sun Cuibi, a Chinese Lecturer at the Confucius Institute at the University of Kelaniya and Ms. R.M.S.P Rathnayake, Teacher at Lakdas de Mal College at Kurunegala was invited as a guest lecturer in this training programme as well. On both the 30th of May and 31st of May 2024, the training programme was conducted in the National Institute of Education of Sri Lanka for newly appointed 53 Chinese Language teachers from various Districts.
On the 30th of May 2024, starting the training lectures, Ven. Prof. Nadalagamuwe Dhammadinna Thero lectured on the Theory of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. Later after the Tea Break, Dr. Jani Samarakoon, gave a lecture on what Chinese Language is and introduced the knowledge of Chinese Pinyin systematically. Furthermore, she explained the contents of the current Chinese textbook "Contemporary Chinese," which is used by Sri Lankan middle school students the use of workbooks, and the analysis of the content of the syllabus, the system of evaluation and the criteria, so that new teachers can fully understand the teaching materials, class arrangement, the system of evaluation and so on.
Assoc. Prof. Sun Cuibi gave a lecture on "Chinese Teaching Methods and Techniques." In the lecture, she eagerly combined the latest education theories with Chinese teaching methods and techniques to explain what is Chinese Language teaching, elements of Chinese language teaching, comprehensive courses and other aspects to the training teachers. Moreover, she analyzed the difficulties of Sri Lankan students in learning Chinese and practically analyzed it’s causes, and suggested practical solutions. After the lunch break, Ms. R.M.S.P Rathnayake, explained the problems that can be faced by the foreign language teachers on the second training day, which was on the 31st of May 2024.
The lecturers have been prepared a few Class Activities. The Teachers actively participated for the Class Activities and Games. After the training sessions, the newly appointed teachers didn’t forget to express their thoughts regarding the training lecture sessions.
“Your rich knowledge, professional explanation and patient guidance made us gain a lot in this short two days. Every class is wonderful, not only broaden our horizons, but also inspire our enthusiasm for learning.
At the sametime, Ms. Vindya Wettasinghe, a teacher at Sripalee College, Horana also stated, “I have attended various teacher trainings. These two days of Chinese teacher training for me, the harvest is very good, I learned a lot of new knowledge and teaching methods. Special thanks to the teachers' hard work and patient guidance, so that I have a significant improvement in teaching ability and professionalism.”
Ms. Dinukshi Udagedara, from Rangiri Dambulla National School declared “This training is really very useful. We got a lot of things that are very important for us as new teachers in the teaching process through this training. Through this training, we got the motivation to do new things to promote Chinese language in school”.
The greatest asset of a school is the personality of the teacher. Therefore, the teacher training programs really helps elevate the whole teaching process.
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