ULearnChinese
Negotiations with Hanban commenced 18 months ago when Mike Copleston and Kate Hammond from Chinese Language Publishing travelled to Beijing. They managed to secure a meeting with the Deputy Director General of Hanban, who recognised the potential for such an advanced and interactive product, and a joint publishing agreement was formally signed at the end of 2010.
“With the Chinese business market developing year on year, the worldwide demand for Chinese language learning is increasing,”
“We saw a need for resources to support teachers and institutions interested in offering Chinese, without the reliance on dedicated, fluent Chinese-speaking staff. We realised that the resources made in China had little awareness of Western teaching methods and those from other countries such as the USA were difficult to use as they relied more heavily on having dedicated, in-classroom Chinese teacher support. We knew that the teaching methods of ULearnChinese would have world-wide application so we ensured it could be localised for any language. We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the ‘Best Export’ award as we are working extremely hard to market the ULearnChinese products internationally.”
Each ULearnChinese resource pack is created with a clear and comprehensive workflow structure, bringing in a variety of teaching methods to engage and aid both teachers and students.
In addition to essential learning materials such as teacher guides, student workbooks, Chinese character worksheets and presentations, ULearnChinese incorporates technologically advanced and pioneering teaching tools. The ULearnChinese Hanban Virtual Keyboard is just one of the advanced features and was created to solve the problem of typing in pinyin, the system used to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet. Used alongside conventional keyboards, it features the tone marks used in pinyin to enable learners to type accurately. Other innovative features include ULearnChinese Voice, ULearnChinese Toolbox and ULearnChinese Soundbooth, a software-based language lab that allows the learner to listen to native Chinese speakers and record their own voice.
With 13 Confucius Institutes and 60 Confucius Classrooms based in the UK, and a further 700 worldwide, the immediate demand for ULearnChinese is significantly high. Other schools and universities have also shown interest in the innovative teaching resource, opening the door to Chinese language learning on an even greater scale.
Chinese Language Publishing works with authors, language teachers and IT professionals to create interesting and thought-provoking products to help teach Chinese. Its flexible approach and state-of-the-
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