Editor’s note: Liu laoshi joined the CLC team in 2005 after leaving Beijing for Hong Kong. She took up the division head position in 2013. She is a pioneer of PRINCH Bejing, a total immersion programme, and is one of the head teachers there. In this issue of PEOPLE, Liu laoshi who beams and speaks sweetly is going to share with us her little stories.

1.  Why interested in Russian language and culture?

2.  What are the distinctive features of Russian language? How is it different from Chinese and English?

  3. The path leading to your first Chinese teaching career in Tsinghua University.

4.  Born in Cangzhou, studied in Jinan and Beijing, how the 3 places differ?

I can say the 3 places are very different. Cangzhou is a small city located at a plain in Northern China. It is close to Beijing and Tianjin and easily accessible. Apart from that, there is nothing distinctive from the thousands of small cities and towns in mainland China. That is the place where I grew up. It is the most intimate and special in my heart forever. If talking about distinguishing feature, those who like famous Chinese novel “Water Margin” may remember that Lin Chong, the “Panther Head”, is exiled to Cangzhou for penal servitude. 

Jinan is the provincial capital for Shandong Province and having an essential position in the Chinese history. Noted Chinese novelist Mr. Lao She lavished in ink and pen by writing several proses to portrait Jinan, including the one enjoyed great popularity “The Winter in Jinan” and the one covered by mainland China formal education language curriculum textbook“Baotu Spring”. In my impression, Jinan is a picturesque medium size city with simple folkways. The 4 years I spent there can be considered the most peaceful time in my heart throughout my green years. 

5.  Your sparetime and hobbies.

The work in the Centre is quite heavy. Somehow I could not think of “sparetime”. Teacher is a special profession. Behind the 45 minutes on the lecture theatre is 2 to 3 hours or even 2 to 3 days preparation. Before my child is born, I spent all of my vacation for“home return” to see the cities I familiar with. In Beijing, I visited my friends. In Cangzhou, to return to my parents’ side and being pampered like “children”. For short holiday or any other time that work is not required, I like going somewhere in Hong Kong and to acquaint myself more the place I am living.

6.  Some impressive students

During academic year 2008 to 2009, I taught Cui, a local Putonghua student who had visual impairment. That was my very first time came into contact with students with special education need. Whenever the lesson required Pinyin (Putonghua Romanization) recognition and read aloud, he asked classmates to tell the English letter sound, and then he read out the Putonghua sound in Pinyin. He completed the quizzes and exams by borrowing special equipment from the university library to magnify the words. I was moved by his earnest and diligence amid tremendous inconvenience in his learning process. 

This summer in Beijing PRINCH, another student struck the deepest of my heart. Tsang’s eyes cannot see. Her hearing is weak. But she is strong, optimistic, painstaking in everything and harsh to herself. Throughout the 14 days in Beijing, without worrying of toil she followed the main group and walked through the streets and alleys there. She even climbed up to the Great Walls. She used her two hands and ears, coupled with her boundless imagination, to feel all what we watched with our eyes. She completed brilliantly all the course requirement and gave high quality final report. There are so many valuable things I could learn from her. 

During 2009 to 2011, I was teaching in the Putonghua Division of the Continuing Education Section. The students there were very different from university exchange students. Many students were having personal stories behind. I still could remember the first report given by Fan, a Russian student, who had learned Putonghua for just 2 months by that time. She could use limited vocabularies and sentences to compose a story about her Kungfu learning with Jackie Chan. Teachers and students were totally surprised and amazed. In the term end report, she even wrote the sequel of the story and gained the tremendous applause from the class.  

Tang from South Africa was another student who had imprinted in my memory. She is pretty and elegant and she likes singing and playing piano. I saw a glimpse of her in a local TV programme where she was in a local primary school lesson. In the forum, she received praise highly from many local parents, including some towards her learning of Putonghua in CUHK and her enterprising and positive attitude. I am really glad for her.

7.  Commonly seen learning patterns and Chinese language mistakes among international students

It is quite difficult to classify learning characteristics based on “countries”. Every student is unique. If I have to tell an overall impression, I can say American and European students tend to be more “talkative” and are willing to express their opinion. For Japanese and Korean students, they have a relative advantage in Chinese characters. Their ability in reading and writing seems better. As for learning method and style, every student is not exactly the same. 

 

  8. What kind of programme is PRINCH? Who is suitable to study?

9.  Academic plan for upcoming 1 to 2 years

In recent years, there are more and more advanced level students. This can be found among some CUHK international students whose Chinese proficiency is quite high and Chinese language is still their compulsory subjects. So, the work focus for upcoming 1 to 2 years will be the development of this kind of curriculum and learning materials. E-learning is another area Putonghua division wants to explore. How to utilize e-learning platform to complement teaching and to enhance classroom efficiency will be the area of focus.