SCEN November 2021 Update
MEETING FACE-TO-FACE – SOME OF THE TIME
SCEN is pleased to say that we have recently been involved in the organisation of our first live events since November 2019. It has been good to meet up with colleagues, students, teachers, and education leaders face-to-face after so many months when nearly all communication has been online. Of course, sadly, the COVID-19 is still with us, and precautions must be taken at all times. Also, we have come to recognise the advantages in many circumstances of online meeting (reduction in costs and travelling etc). It looks increasingly that, as the technology becomes more sophisticated, a hybrid model of meeting will become the most normal form of communication.
THE FUTURE OF MANDARIN LEARNING AND TEACHING: BEYOND THE PANDEMIC: EDINBURGH, CORN EXCHANGE (AND ONLINE), 18 NOVEMBER
SCEN hosted the above seminar, which brought together twenty representatives of key organisations involved in taking forward the Mandarin learning and teaching agenda in Scotland. Organisations represented included: Scotland’s Centre for Languages (SCILT), the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS), the Confucius Institutes in Glasgow and Heriot Watt Universities, Scottish Government, Education Scotland, the Swire Group of Schools, headteachers and deputes, Bilingualism Matters, students from the China Futures Society (at University of Edinburgh), the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), and SCEN Trustees.
Most were present in the Corn Exchange, others joined us online.
As well as presenting the current situation of teaching Mandarin, at a time of a global pandemic, representatives focused on three key questions.
How do we as a community engage with young people to increase interest in learning Mandarin?
How do we encourage and support more schools to introduce and develop Mandarin within the curriculum?
How can all organisations involved in Mandarin learning better work together and share experience and best practice?
The event identified many innovative thoughts and ideas which will be brought together and form the basis of a report which SCEN will prepare and circulate.
At a time of continuing uncertainty around the pandemic, and when language teaching is under pressure in so many ways, representatives expressed optimism, tempered by realism, about the future of Mandarin teaching in educational establishments around Scotland.
SCEN YOUTH SUMMIT AT GROVE ACADEMY, DUNDEE: 11 NOVEMBER
The very first SCEN face-to-face event was held at Grove Academy in Dundee. It was hosted by school students themselves, supported by Depute Head, Andy Creamer, and colleagues, as well as Colin and Rosemary Mitchell, representing SCEN Youth Voice. Students spoke of the journey the school had taken from early days, working with a CISS appointed teacher online, to the present time with a qualified teacher of Chinese working within the school. Students had now progressed to SQA certificate level, and were looking beyond that. Also, Emily Crawford, an S6 student in the school had won the national British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition 2021.
SCEN Ambassador certificates were handed out at the Summit to students in the school involved in Mandarin learning.
At the event there were online messages of encouragement from Consul General Ma Qiang, Fhiona Mackay of SCILT/CISS, James Brodie of the China Britain Business Council (CBBC), CISS Alumni, and other supporters of Chinese language learning in Scotland.
A full recording and report of the event will be published shortly on the SCEN website.
Further Summits are planned for Edinburgh in the Spring term, and Glasgow in the Summer term.
SCEN intends to move towards a pattern of localised SCEN Summits, led by Colin and Rosemary Mitchell. If you are interested in a similar event in your area, contact Rosemary at youthvoice@scen.info
CHINESE TEACHING CLUB MEETING: 12 NOVEMBER – ONLINE
Hosted by Jean Wang of Hillhead High in Glasgow, teachers of Mandarin across Scotland met to discuss current issues around the learning and teaching of Mandarin, and talk about learning materials and approaches to pedagogy. A key area of discussion was building up teaching materials for the new ‘Teaching Zone’ on the SCEN website. If you are interested in becoming involved in the work of the Teaching Club, and/or in sharing teaching materials, contact Megan Hamell at admin@scen.info.
SCEN WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Our new website has been well received and much visited. If you have not had a look, please do so. Some of the pages need to be more fully populated, and we are looking for relevant articles, photographs, and ideas, all to do with promoting the learning of Mandarin across Scotland. These articles and such will also be shared on our Twitter and Instagram.
If you are interested in contributing to the website, or have any relevant material, please contact Megan Hammell at admin@scen.info.
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2022…
2020 and 2021 have been challenging years for all of us. Let us hope that in 2022 we can look beyond the pandemic, and build on what we have achieved to promote further the learning of Mandarin in Scotland. China is such an important country, and our young people have the right to expect the opportunity to learn about that country, and to be able to access the Mandarin language during their time in school and beyond.
Please have a peaceful Christmas, and all the best for 2022.