The Confucius Institute of University of Macau had invited a total of 6 renowned speakers to conduct a series of online academic seminars in 2021, including Professor Zhang Weijia (Professor in the School of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University and Director of Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in BNU), Dr. Wei Huiping (Associate Professor of Macau University of Science and Technology), Professor Shao Yi (Professor and PhD Supervisor of Jinan University), Professor Ye Tan (Emeritus Professor of Comparative Theater at University of South Carolina and the Former Director of Confucius Institute), Professor Zuo Simin (Professor of Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Korea University), and Ms. Ma Yamin (Author of the book “Chinese Made Easy”).
On March 25th, Professor Zhang Weijia gave a speech on the topic of “Script Evolution: An Aesthetic Journey to Chinese Calligraphy”, introduced the evolution of the five types of Chinese calligraphy from ancient times to the Tang Dynasty: Seal script (篆書 Zhuanshu), Clerical script (隸書 Lishu), Cursive script (草書 Caoshu), Regular script (楷書 Kaishu) and Semi-cursive script (行書 Xingshu). He emphasized that when appreciating calligraphy, instead of separating the individual scripts, we should integrate them to appreciate the unique charm and aesthetic value of calligraphy. The content of the series will soon appear on the CCTV’s program, Lecture Room (百家講壇).
On April 17th, Dr. Wei Huiping delivered the presentation on “Chinese Language Education Goals and Approaches in the Multi-community Environment” to the Macao primary and secondary school teachers, and UM teachers and students. Firstly, Dr. Wei talked about the significance of education, reflected on the role of language education in the whole education system, and expounded the characteristics of language education in the multilingual community with the goal planning of Chinese education in Macao. At the seminar, Dr. Wei also emphasized that the relationship between teachers and students should be “heart to heart”. No matter the choice of teaching method or the implementation of educational design, it is important to respect and understand the learners’ real feelings and realistic concerns.
On June 3rd, Professor Shao Yi talked about the promotion work of Mandarin in ethnic areas in the new era. At the beginning, Professor Shao gave an introduction on the background of promoting Mandarin and pointed out that there is still a long way to go. Through the interpretation of the policy, the audiences understood the close relationship between the promotion of Mandarin and the national poverty alleviation work as well as its particularity. Professor Shao emphasized the importance of stimulating the development of people in poor areas by improving their language literacy. At the end of the seminar, Professor Shao reiterated the significance of promoting China’s poverty alleviation plan in combination with the national policy objectives.
On October 11th, Professor Ye Tan conducted a lecture about a comparative study on the aesthetics in Chinese and America cinemas. First of all, based on the various cultural background between China and US, Professor Ye introduced the differences between the two countries in terms of history, race and religion. He then talked about the Hollywood films and Chinese films from a historical perspective with specific examples, and analyzed the aesthetic habits of film audiences in the two countries. In addition, Professor Ye demonstrated specific cases and elaborated the similarities and differences between Chinese and American films, from the aspects of character design and plot structure in details. Finally, he summarized the Chinese and American films in the era of globalization.
On November 8th, Professor Zuo Simin gave a detailed analysis and introduction on the topic of “The Dynamic Phase of Chinese Verbs and the Relationship with the Situation”, starting from the attributes of dynamic phase and situations, cited theories and combined his professional knowledge. Then he made an in-depth analysis of the difference between the dynamic phase and situations via examples, and shared his modified and supplemented Chinese verbs’ dynamic classification and made detailed analysis one by one.
On November 26th, Ms. Ma Yamin gave a presentation on the topic of “Creating a Scientific and Effective Way of International Chinese Teaching”. The presentation focused on the role of “Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)” in international Chinese teaching. According to her rich teaching experience, Ms. Ma pointed out that TBLT is not fixed, and the proportion of early-stage tasks and mid-stage tasks should be appropriately increased, while the proportion of late-stage tasks should be reduced to ensure timely correction of errors. In the end, Ms. Ma also emphasized that there are cultural points in language teaching, and culture cannot be separated from language, nor can we talk about culture without language.