The Confucius Institute at Miami University (CIMU) held a training workshop for Chinese teachers at 8:30 a.m. on September 9. The event was co-sponsored by Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the workshop was held. Nearly 40 teachers from Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland, and Kentucky attended the training. 

The morning began with a speech from Cai Jiawen of CIMU. She reviewed the activities held by CIMU in local schools and the surrounding community and expressed gratitude to teachers for their long-term support. 

The keynote speaker of the event was Ying Jin, 2018 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) teacher of the year. Her speech, Engage students in your world language classroom–a series of classroom-proven activities designed to meet the needs of 21st century learners, focused on the role of activities in the classroom. She said that students learning a second language cannot be taught in the same way students are taught their first language as young children. She utilized interactive demonstrations involving those in attendance to exhibit the types of activities that she says will lead to a better grasp on the subject matter.

After the training, participants were awarded certificates for completing the session by Ying Jin and CIMU associate director Zhongqing Jiang. A few teachers in attendance said the training was led by experts and that it was creative and well-organized. 

"I am grateful to the Confucius Institute at Miami for providing such a good learning opportunity for the teachers," one of the teachers said. "After seeing the demonstration process of the experts, these activities will be used in my classroom in tomorrow."

CIMU will continue to support local language teaching programs and serve as a bridge between language, culture, and community.