Smart teaching system launched for international Chinese learning

The Smart System of International Chinese Education was officially launched on International Chinese Language Day, which fell on Friday, aiming to facilitate the entire process of Chinese language teaching.

Launched by the Ministry of Education's Center for Language Education and Cooperation and Beijing Language and Culture University, the system is a student-oriented teaching platform.

It has access to multimodal teaching preparatory resources, and integrates teaching, practice and evaluation, supporting tailored interaction between teachers and students, according to BLCU.

The system provides intelligent assessment tools that can compile test papers, evaluate objective questions and assist in the evaluation of subjective questions, while analyzing learning behavior data and teaching students according to their specific performances.

It was launched on "Chinese-Plus", a cloud platform supporting high-quality teaching resources that has covered 202 countries and regions worldwide and offered over 30,000 online courses to over 10 million registered users, according to the center.

The center aims to make digital technology better serve and benefit learners around the world, and promote international Chinese language education, it said.

Apart from the system, multiple achievements have been published during the launch ceremony of the 2024 International Chinese Language Day at BLCU, including Chinese Graded Readers Standards for International Chinese Language Education, and 11 language versions of the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education.

As the Chinese language is becoming more popular around the world, many countries are promoting business and cultural exchanges with China through language education.

Natalia Bayona, executive director of UN Tourism, said the United Nations has launched the "Chinese+Tourism" Online Training Program to provide UN Tourism officials and tourism professionals worldwide with a deeper understanding of the Chinese language and its culture.

The Mandarin Excellence Program launched by the British Council China will see about 1,200 students from over 60 UK schools participate in an immersive learning experience in China this year, according to Nick Thomas, minister of culture and education at the British embassy to China.

Alanood Al Ali, a student from United Arab Emirates University, said she finally realized her dream of visiting China after learning Chinese for a year at the Confucius Institute.

"We are able to gain a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of China by studying Chinese and participating in the exchange program," Alanood said at the opening ceremony of the "Chinese Bridge" Spring Camp for students from Gulf Cooperation Council countries held on the same day.

"The experience will not only enrich us personally but will also strengthen the relations between the two countries, particularly fostering exchanges among young students," she said.

Omar Ahmed Mahmoud has been learning Chinese for more than three years and gave himself a Chinese name after the famous kung fu star Bruce Lee.

Interested in economics and trade, he plans to sell Chinese products including clothes, furniture and children's toys to people in his hometown in Cairo, capital of Egypt.

A Chinese language major student in Cairo and a postgraduate student of Chinese as a foreign language at BLCU, Omar said he hopes his fluency in Chinese will be helpful in his career.