SCEN Update - August 2021
AUGUST 2021: CHALLENGES OF A NEW ACADEMIC YEAR
Welcome back to the new academic year 2021 – 22. In the course of the past two years all our lives have changed immeasurably, and it is hard to be sure of what lies before us in the year ahead. Most of us, whether teachers, lecturers, or students, have learned to adapt and to be resilient in the face of many challenges, and what we have learned will serve us well as we prepare for the new term or semester.
We have heard of tremendous success for students studying last session in the degree results and SQA qualifications achieved. There is so much to build on for the future, but we are well aware also of the particular challenges now facing the learning of Mandarin in schools. There is some evidence of young people and their parents questioning, now more than in the recent past, the value of learning Mandarin. The great task ahead for us all is to persuade young people in earlier years in school of the immense importance of acquiring some knowledge of the Mandarin language. In simple terms, it is imperative that young people in Scotland have the opportunity to engage with the generation emerging in China, as the world moves on from the current pandemic and while the economic, industrial, educational, and political importance of China continues to grow at a rate unimaginable even a few years ago.
LEARNING MANDARIN IN SCOTLAND – A NEW IMPETUS
SCEN will lead discussion about giving a new impetus to Mandarin learning in Scotland. Discussions are already underway, and our aim is to bring together lead representatives of providers of teaching Mandarin in Scotland (university and school) and other key players (governmental and non-governmental and from the business community) with a view to evaluating where we are now with Mandarin teaching in Scotland, and charting a shared path to the future. Gathering research evidence about where we are now is likely to form part of that. We intend to organise an initial meeting in the autumn term and the September meeting of SCEN Trustees will set out details. Ideally, we would prefer that this initial meeting will be one of the first face to face meetings of the post pandemic period, but if restrictions and concerns remain, we shall host a meeting online. We shall be in touch.
LAUNCH OF NEW SCEN WEBSITE ON 16 AUGUST AND NEW COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
Earlier this year SCEN Trustees agreed to update the main focus of SCEN’s work. The chosen rephrasing of SCEN’s tagline and focus is“Supporting the Study of Chinese Language and Culture across Scotland”.
As part of this we are launching a new SCEN website on 16 August. Our aim is to be more easily accessible, user friendly, and informative about SCEN and its work, as well as about other bodies involved in the learning and teaching of Mandarin. Young students from schools and university have been involved in the development of the new website, and gave helpful feedback towards its design and content.
With the new website launch we plan to increase the amount of content on the site, developing more and new articles, resources, and news items for both students and teachers of Chinese. Anyone with an interest in supporting our work or contributing content should contact Megan Hammell, the SCEN Online Communications and Administrative Officer at admin@scen.info.
Please visit the site when it is launched on 16 August and send any feedback to Megan.
We are also developing our use of social media, working to help regenerate youth engagement with SCEN. Please follow us on Twitter @SCEN_Official for updates, as well as our new Instagram account, also @SCEN_Official. We are working to ensure that all followers of our SCEN accounts can do so in a safe environment, adhering to government advice and regulations on issues such as security and child protection.
Over the next period we will be sending out to our Network frequent updates with advice on the social networks in which SCEN will be active. For further information please contact Megan Hammell at admin@scen.info.
WORKING ACROSS SCOTLAND
The experience of the past eighteen month has taught us that geography need be no bar to the learning of Modern Languages, including Mandarin. Work led by the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS) and supported by E-sgoil has meant bringing schools from parts of Scotland who have hitherto had little or no access to learning Mandarin or about China into the Mandarin learning community. It is vital that this online work continues. It is also vital that as we emerge from the pandemic young people have face to face access to teachers, especially qualified teachers, who can support the learning of Mandarin across Scotland. SCEN looks to organise or be part of a number events throughout Scotland which can bring together those supporting the development of Mandarin learning and teaching.
THE SLOW CHINESE NEWSLETTER 每周漫闻
The Slow Chinese newsletter (每周漫闻) is a weekly dose of interesting words, phrases and idioms from the week’s news for learners of Chinese who want to take their language skills to the next level.
It’s written by Andrew Methven, a former SOAS student. Since graduating with a MA in Chinese translation in 2007 he has enjoyed a career using his Chinese professionally – as a translator, interpreter, and advisor. He is now CEO of a UK-based advisory business. It’s published on the newsletter platform Substack every Saturday morning.
The newsletter takes three China news stories each week covering business, entrepreneurship, society, social media, politics, or foreign affairs, highlighting useful and interesting ‘words of the week’.
It aims to help Chinese language learners build their vocabulary beyond what they learn in the classroom, including idioms, colloquialisms, slang, internet words and social media phrases. Words sometimes reflect broader social trends in China; some are even not yet in the dictionary; most are not in HSK word lists, but all are current, relevant, and authentic.
Slow Chinese 每周漫闻 is a valuable resource for language teachers and students alike. The target audience tends to be more advanced learners, HSK4 level and above. But it is written in a way that learners of all levels, and non-Chinese speakers, can also enjoy reading.
If you are interested, sign up here to receive weekly newsletters in your inbox every Saturday morning.
By Andrew Methven
YOUTH VOICE IN SCEN
A number of school and higher education students have supported SCEN in the development of the new SCEN website. We intend that those supportive students will form the nucleus of a group of students who will lead Youth Voice within SCEN. This group will work largely online and replace the SCEN Youth Committee of the past. It is important that teachers support and assist us in this, identifying young people who are willing to be part of SCEN Youth Voice. Clearly senior students (S5/6) will have a role to play, but it is important to also involve slightly younger students (S3/4) to ensure continuity as older students move on to higher education and elsewhere. If there are students in your school who would be interested, please contact Rosemary Mitchell at youthvoice@scen.info.
CHINESE TEACHING CLUB
The next scheduled meeting is on 12 November at 3pm. It is likely that this meeting will be online and one of the areas for discussion at the meeting will be possible face to face meetings at a future date. Members of the CTC are in contact with each other between meetings using social media and are a vital part of the work of SCEN. To be part of CTC or to find out more, please contact the CTC chair Jean Wang at CTC_Chair@scen.info or Megan at admin@scen.info.
Session 2021 – 22 will bring great challenges to all in education. There will be challenges to language learning and teaching. Now more than ever it is imperative that young people throughout Scotland have the opportunity to learn mandarin and about China.
For further information on SCEN activity please do not hesitate to contact us at admin@scen.info.
Best wishes to you all,
Simon Macaulay
Chair
SCEN
