(15 October 2022)

Sunwah – On 15 October 2022, under the support and sponsorship of the Sunwah Foundation of Sunwah Group (Hong Kong), the 13th Asia – Pacific Consortium of Teaching Chinese as an International Language (APC-TCIL 13) was successfully organized at ULIS-Jonathan KS Choi Cultural Centre in Hanoi. The conference had more than 400 leading experts and scholars from more than 10 countries and regions, including Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, France, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, etc. attended in both personal and online format. Dr Jonathan Choi, Chairman of Sunwah Group and Sunwah Foundation delivered the opening speech via video format.

Associate Professor Ph.D Lam Quang Dong, Vice President of the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Vietnam National University (VNU), represented the organising committee of the Conference stated in the opening that the theme of this Conference “Innovating philosophy, direction and teaching methods of international Chinese language” had caught the right flow of social needs with high practicality. This is also an opportunity for Chinese language regional and international educators and researchers to learn from each other and discuss issues of mutual concern. The conference is expected to create positive changes in regional and international Chinese research and teaching fields, as knowledge and experience exchange can create greater opportunities.

Associate Professor Ph.D Lam Quang Dong, Vice-principal of University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Vietnam National University (VNU)

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, Dr Jonathan Choi introduced the activities of ULIS-Sunwah Chinese Teaching & Research Centre – an imprint of active cooperation between two parties over the past 10 years through his video speech. Under the support of Sunwah Foundation, the Centre has actively promoted Chinese teaching and research in Vietnam and in the region through many meaningful activities such as organising training courses, seminars and Chinese-specialized conferences; organising academic and cultural exchanges between Vietnam and China; sponsoring the publication of more than 20 specialized books, and many domestic and international research articles; sponsoring scholarships to study in China; etc. Sunwah Foundation has also repeatedly organised academic exchanges to China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Australia, and many other countries/regions for the delegations of the Faculty of Chinese Language and Culture of ULIS, which includes the participation in the annual conferences of the Asia-Pacific Consortium of Teaching Chinese as an International Language. Appreciating the achievements of the Consortium, Dr Choi believed that this 13th Conference could contribute to promoting Chinese language teaching in other countries and open up new opportunities for cooperation in international Chinese teaching in the region.

Dr Jonathan Choi, Chairman of Sunwah Group and Sunwah Foundation, delivered Opening speech via video

Professor Nguyen Hoang Anh, President of the APC International Chinese Teaching Association, and former Director of ULIS-Sunwah Chinese Teaching & Research Centre also expressed his gratitude for the strong support of Sunwah Group and Sunwah Foundation over the entire time. “The growth and development of the APC International Chinese Teaching Association couldn’t be separated from the support of all levels of society. Sunwah Group has supported Chinese language teaching and research in Vietnam for more than ten years. It has sponsored Vietnam to organize international Chinese language teaching conferences in Asia – Pacific region for many times. Our Association would like to express sincere thanks to Dr Jonathan Choi and Sunwah Group, hopefully, the Association will continue to receive support from Sunwah in the future.”

Ms Janice Le, Representative of Sunwah Group in Hanoi received thank-you flower from the organizer

Taking place in a hybrid format (including both offline and online), 3 presentations were presented, especially 2 professors representing the American Association of Chinese Teachers and the European Association of Chinese Teaching attended and reported at the plenary session. The reports mainly focus on Chinese language teaching research, Chinese vocabulary and grammar research, Chinese language skills teaching methods and assessment research, Chinese teaching programs development, textbooks compilation and resources-training research, Chinese characters and culture research, etc. In particular, this conference has many articles discussing methods and models of hybrid Chinese teaching to cope with the current unpredictable situation of Covid-19. Also within the framework of the conference, the Chinese Language Teaching and Research Association Branch under the Vietnam Linguistics Association was officially launched. The branch was established with the desire to develop and connect Chinese language training and research in Vietnam