Student Testimonial - Masters in Teaching Chinese to Students of other Languages
One year ago I came to Ireland to study for my master degree in the area of TCSOL at UCC. I was neither familiar with the country nor the major, however this whole year turned out to be a brilliant and precious experience to me. I did my BA in philosophy, so before I chose TCSOL to continue my study, I didn’t know too much about this field, but the only thing I was sure about is that it would be a great opportunity to study this specific area with European educationists and Chinese language specialists.
The programme has a good balance between theory and practice inside and outside of the campus. In the first semester, we learned SLA theory, language teaching methods and also the knowledge of the Irish education system. We were given presentations from experienced language teachers in Ireland and were arranged to observe different levels of Chinese classes in UCC and the French classes in secondary schools. In the second semester we received Chinese linguistic training and the most advanced Chinese teaching techniques and applied what we studied in the Confucius classes in local secondary schools. We were also provided with an excellent opportunity to attend the 2nd Conference of the Irish Association of Asian Studies at DCU, and some of us including myself even had the chance to give a presentation in front of all the top scholars. In the third semester, as well as doing our thesis, we were all given an opportunity to apply for EACL Summer programme, an initiative sponsored by the European Association of Chinese Linguistics in order to provide specific training in the field. I was luckily accepted but unfortunately I didn’t make it due to personal reasons. According to my classmates, it was an absolutely fantastic and eye-opening experience to study with the most outstanding Chinese linguistic scholars in Europe.
Our lecturers were very considerate and patient. They have tried their best to help us and provided us with opportunities to make the most of our one- year study. The most important thing I’ve learned from them is their genuine concern for students and the respect for education. Learning how to teach Chinese outside of China in a non-Chinese environment really gave me a totally new perspective. I really enjoyed this year and have benefited immensely form this.
Recently with my lecturer’s support and guidance on job applications and interviews. I successfully went through the shortlisting process and an interview and got offered the positon of full-time language teacher in DIT through short-listing and interviews. Yimin Mi
一年前当我来到爱尔兰考克大学学习对外汉语时，我对这个国家和这个专业都很陌生，然而现 在这一年的时光已经成为我最精彩而宝贵的经历。我本科就读于哲学专业，所以在选择国际对 外汉语教育这个专业继续我的学业之前我对这个领域并不熟悉。但是我唯一可以确定的是跟随 欧洲教育学家和汉学家学习对外汉语一定将是一个非常好的机会。
这个专业在校内与校外的理论知识与教学实践之间有着良好的平衡。第一学习我们主要学习了 二语习得理论和教学方法，同时也对爱尔兰教育体系有了一定的了解。老师为我们组织了各种 语言教育讲座，我们也有机会去旁听考科大学各类汉语课和爱尔兰高中的法语课。在学期末老 师还特别为我们组织了与 Cork Education Traing Board 的主要负责人的见面，帮助我们增进对爱 尔兰教育现状的了解。第二个学期我们学习了汉语语言学相关知识以及国际上比较先进的汉语 教学技巧，同时我们在当地的中学的孔子学堂进行了一系列教学实践。在老师的帮助下我们全 班一同参加了第二届爱尔兰亚洲研究协会的会议，包括我在内的五名同学还在会议上发言，与 顶尖学者一同分享我们的学习成果。我们还有机会申请欧洲汉语语言学协会组织的夏令营。我 有幸被录取却因个人原因未能成行，但是去参加的同学都一致认为夏令营非常开拓眼界，欧洲 汉语语言学顶尖学者的授课让大家对汉语语言学知识有了更深的认识。
我们的授课老师都十分体贴耐心，她们尽最大可能帮助我们，让我们能够好好利用这一年的时 间学习生活。在专业知识之外，我认为最重要的是我学习到了老师们对于学生发自内心的关爱 和对于教育的尊重。在国外非中文的环境之下学习对外汉语给予我了全新的视角，我非常享受 这一年的学习并且受益良多。
Student Testimonial - Masters in Teaching Chinese to Students of other Languages
During the previous three to four months I have extended my understanding on a variety of pedagogy. I have also sculpted myself into being a type of teacher that I greatly wanted to be and this Masters programme has facilitated me in doing so. During the past few months I have observed on-site and off-site language classes, attended several presentations by a variety of independent and government official bodies, gained the skills necessary to teach, and I have also achieved a basic understanding of in-depth Action Research which can be applied to my future learning. To summarize this Masters programme in three words I would use: learner-centred, communicative, and interactive. - Alana Eileen Dooley
