LinkChinese UK News

Claire Smith reports in Scotsman:

THREE years ago, teachers and pupils from Grantown Grammar went on a trip which had a profound influence on them and the school.

Eight pupils and two teachers travelled to Beijing to take part in a three-week language and culture course run by the British Council which for many of them began a fascination with all things Chinese.

Today, visitors are often surprised to see examples of Chinese calligraphy on the walls – and to learn this small school is one of the first in the UK to offer a chance to learn basic Mandarin.

Read the full report.

 

On April 6, 2008, the same day as the auspicious snow welcome the Olympic torch relay in London, the Academy of Life Sciences for Chinese in the UK (ALSC-UK) announced its official foundation in the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy based in London. ALSC-UK is the senior members club of the Chinese Life Scientists Society in the UK (CLSS-UK) and is the brainchild of Minister Counsellor Mr Yongda Wang of the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy.

At the inauguration meeting, Professor Mingqing Du from Cambridge University introduced the principles of this new initiative and the meeting agenda. Dr. Wei Wang from De Montfort University described the preparing processes of the meeting and the ALSC-UK. Dr. Henglong Hu from GlaxoSmithKline presided over the discussion on the Chinese and English names of the Academy and the titles of its members in both Chinese and English, as well as the structure and leadership of the Academy. Professor Xin Lu from Oxford University led a warm discussion on the unique opportunities, rights and responsibilities of the members of the ALSC-UK.

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Chinese School
1/5. The Year of the Golden Pig

Following the hopes and dreams of a group of children over the course of a year, at three schools in rural China as they prepare for the biggest challenge of their young lives as mocks begin for the Gao Kao exam. [AD,S]

Tue 8 Apr, 21:00-22:00 60mins Stereo Widescreen

Website http://www.open2.net/chineseschool/index.html

 

The Guardian’s Harriet Swain reports the increasing number of Chinese students coming to study A-level in UK sixth-form colleges.

Though further education colleges in general enrol about 80,000 international students a year, such students are still comparatively rare in British sixth-form colleges. But their numbers are increasing as more young people seek a globalised education and as UK colleges recognise the financial and academic benefits of recruiting from overseas.

Government initiatives to boost the number of foreign students, including investment of more than £27m over the past two years, have encouraged the trend. At the same time, students are to be included in the reform of the immigration system this year. The government will prioritise international student recruitment but also tighten the rules for their visas.

Read the full report.

 

Schools in Lancashire share teaching resources to offer their pupils Mandarin courses. Gordon McCully reports on This Is Lancashire:

East is meeting west at a primary school where pupils are getting to grips with learning Mandarin.

Youngsters at Gillibrand Primary, Grosvenor Road, Chorley, are picking up the new language with the help of Mandarin teacher Lichan Lu. Head teacher Sharon Franklin said: “She comes in once a week and she takes year one and year five children.

“It’s through our links with Parklands High School because she is a language assistant at Parklands.”

Read the full report.

 

Education Guardian accompanied five UK secondary headteachers on a British Council trip to Beijing and Xi’an - their prize for winning the regional finals of the Teaching Awards 2006. The aim: to partner up with a Chinese school, see the rapid changes being made to the Chinese education system, and drool. Jessica Shepherd reports the revolution in Chinese education system:

Neon Chinese characters shine through the early morning smog covering Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province. A long way below, cyclists chance their luck cutting the paths of the taxis stacked on the city’s third ring road.

To the right of the traffic, on land the size of two football pitches, 3,000 pupils from Xi’an middle school stand in neat rows waving their arms in tandem for zao cao - morning exercises.

At exactly 9am, the loudspeaker system is switched off. And without fuss, the 15- to 17-year-olds walk to their first lessons.

It has long been assumed in the west that Chinese schools encourage a collectivist mentality, are obsessed by exams, spoon-feed their students and are closed to links abroad.

But several of China’s top schools - including this one - can now do much more than challenge these assumptions.

Read the full story.

 

The Guardian’s Julie Nightingale reports the increasing number of Chinese assistants coming to UK secondary schools to support the teaching of Chinese language and culture:

Eric Yu looks taken aback when asked his age. “Thirty-four,” he replies, cheerfully bemused and presumably wondering whether he’s about to be asked any other vital statistics.

Most European language assistants in UK schools are in their late teens or early 20s, but Yu is not a late developer; he’s Chinese. And the Chinese assistants who come here to support the increasing numbers of schools now teaching Mandarin are all qualified teachers with several years of experience under their belts.

Yu has a BA in English and teaches in a Shanghai secondary school. He’s spending a year at Djanogly city academy in Nottingham, supporting the school’s programme of Mandarin language and Chinese culture.

Read the full story.

 

The Scotsman reports that Edinburgh’s Stevenson College has given certificates to its seventh group of Chinese teachers. The course is specially tailored for the development of Chinese teachers. In parternship with Cambridge University, Stevenson College is the only Scottish centre offering English lessons to the teachers. Besides the language, the class also visited schools across Edinburgh to better understand the teaching of language.

Scotsman’s report

 

University College London (UCL) is asking public to submit their suggestion of a new Chinese name. The winner will get a £1000 reward. The current Chinese name of UCL, 伦敦大学学院, the literal translation of Unversity College London, sometimes causes confusion in China where the concept of traditional English ‘college’ need some explanation. Also the current name is, as UCL admit, not very inspiring. As many other British universities, UCL have attracted many Chinese students. Having a classy and easy to remember Chinese name should improve the image and competitiveness of UCL in China.

The requirment, submission form and contact details can be found here.

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China Daily reports:

About 40 percent of the top students in college entrance examinations have chosen overseas universities for their postgraduate studies, according to a survey.

Most of them have stayed overseas after finishing their intended courses, showed a survey that tracked 130 top performers in college entrance exams from 1977 to 1998.

Dubbed zhuangyuan, which means top contestants in the imperial examinations in feudal China, these students have been lauded by the media as examples for their younger peers.

UNESCO figures show Chinese students comprise 14 percent of international students, the highest in the world. Their favorite destinations for higher studies are the US, Britain and Japan. Some experts said handsome scholarships, better job prospects and more opportunities to pursue further studies are the main attractions of foreign universities.

The full report.