The Training Mode of Local Chinese Language Teachers in Thailand: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

The provision of Chinese language teaching in Thailand has rapidly increased over the period. After analyzing a survey of 60 local Chinese teachers based in Thailand, we find that teachers are primarily focused on improving their teaching methodology and classroom management skills, and their own general awareness of Chinese history and culture. In seeking to meet their training needs and enable them to resolve difficulties they encounter when teaching Chinese as a world language in Thailand, we establish a new and progressive QCLIF training mode and apply it to training practice. QCLIF is an abbreviation taken from the first letters of ‘question-oriented’; ‘case-study-based’; ‘learning and teaching’; ‘input and Output’; and ‘flipped classroom’. The QCLIF training mode is taken from the standards and requirements of world language education in various countries, and the actual demands of local world language teachers. It adopts flipped classrooms to deepen the understanding that teachers have of target languages and related cultures. It also improves the creativity, occupational quality and overall professional knowledge of Chinese language teachers. New teachers also gain experience and develop through multi-dimensional training that enhances knowledge and develops teaching methodologies related to culture, intercultural communication and target languages. Training also helps to establish an on-line country-specific workshop for Chinese language teachers that provides sustainable support to their vocational development. All training practices prove that the QCLIF mode, when based on the actual demand of local Chinese language teachers in Thailand, can effectively improve teachers’ teaching ability and related professional qualities. In addition, the online workshop that brings together local Chinese language teachers from different schools and regions in Thailand further promotes sharing and exchange between teachers, and plays an active role in the benefits obtained from learning, sustainable support and teaching. It has also recorded a 90 percent satisfaction level.