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SCNU held an on-line high-end forum with the Teachers’ Federation of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to discuss reform in the area of the training of language teachers and call for integrated cooperation in foreign language education on September 23-24.
Leaders, scholars and experts from universities and academic institutions at home and abroad, such as the Beijing Foreign Studies University, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau, the Southern California Institute of Technology, and Queen’s University participated in the forum. The main event took place at the School of Foreign Studies of SCNU on the Shipai campus in Guangzhou.
At the opening ceremony, Li Jinjun, deputy director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office of the department of education of Guangdong province mentioned the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which was released in February of 2019. He said that the plan has laid down specific requirements for teachers within the GBA to professionalize by promoting the development of regional education cooperation.He said that SCNU as the university who possesses a high-quality teaching force, has undertaken the mission of promoting teacher training, information sharing and cooperative development. He hoped that foreign teacher education in the GBA will reach better and faster development with joint efforts among universities and schools in the future.
Yang Zhongming, vice president of SCNU, stressed that SCNU has always actively contributed to the regional and national education development since its foundation in 1933. This conference is of great significance and value since it has brought together experts from China and overseas to discuss the development of foreign language teaching within the GBA, against the background of new and higher requirements for the professional development of foreign language teachers, he added.
Li Zhijian, vice president of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, said foreign language teacher training and education are vitally important to the internationalization of the GBA. Further cooperation of academic cooperation in various forms is expected after the conference.
Focusing on foreign language education, professionals jointly discussed on how to reform and enhance the development of teacher education in the GBA from the different perspectives both in terms of fundamental and advanced education.
During the conference, all the participants fully devoted themselves to the topic of developing an international education demonstration zone and platform for conversations on high quality education in southern China. They also shared their opinions on sending a qualified teaching force in order to enhance the innovation and cooperation of the education within the GBA.
Their discussions included cross-cultural literacy of foreign language teachers and its cultivation, opportunities and challenges for the future development of English education in the bay area, the transformation of teaching objectives, the professional development of foreign language teachers and so on.
The two-day event included 9 keynote speeches, 7 expert parallel forums, 10 group presentations and 1 round table. The on-line live broadcast was viewed by 16,516 people online, with 19 on-line meeting rooms, and a total of 2,172 participants, 135 forum speakers, resulting in the aggregate number of about 20,000 participants.
The conference aimed to promote the multi-level and deep cooperation among educators within the greater bay area. Moreover, a platform for further exchange of ideas and cooperation in foreign language education are expected to be set up by the School of Foreign Studies among universities, educational administration departments and primary and secondary schools in the area.
The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area calls for integrated development in the area of education. In answer to this call, the Teachers' Federation of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area jointly with South China Normal University, the Hong Kong Institute of Education and the University of Macau initiated such cooperation in June of 2019 under the guidance of the Department of Education of Guangdong province.
Source from the SCNU News Center
Written by Cen Jingxian
Proofread by Edwin Baak
Edited by Li Jianru, Yang Yi
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