Concordia, Nebraska offers courses on teaching Chinese

This fall Concordia University, Nebraska, in Seward, Neb., began offering a Chinese teaching endorsement for education students.

Ling-Yi Shao teaches a Beginning Mandarin 1 class at Concordia University, Nebraska, in Seward, Neb. This fall the school began offering a Chinese teaching endorsement for education students. (Concordia University, Nebraska)

The university is believed to be the first in Nebraska and among the Synod’s 10 Concordia University Schools to offer the new “endorsement,” which is designed to equip future educators to teach Mandarin Chinese to students in grades 7-12.

“We want to prepare educators to fill the need for language teachers who can teach Mandarin, and teach it well,” said Assistant Professor of Education Vicki Anderson. “We anticipate that having this endorsement will make a teacher candidate who graduates from Concordia all the more marketable.”

The new endorsement is part of the university’s three-year-old Mandarin Chinese program. A minor in Mandarin also is offered.

Education-degree-earning students in the Mandarin Chinese endorsement program are required to complete four courses in Mandarin, two courses in second-language acquisition and pedagogy, and a semester abroad — a total of 11 courses, or 30 credit hours. The semester abroad is spent at a university, either in Taiwan or China, with an intensive Mandarin training program.

The endorsement is reflected on the students’ teaching certificates when they graduate from the education program.

As part of the Chinese program at Concordia, Nebraska, the university welcomed a new graduate assistant instructor, Ling-Yi Shao, to teach Mandarin courses this school year. Shao grew up in Taiwan and received her bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in applied Chinese from Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. She previously worked as an English and Mandarin tutor before applying for the scholarship program that assigned her to Concordia.

“I am very thankful and appreciate that they matched me with this school since this is a Christian school,” said Shao, who is Christian. “Teaching Mandarin is a very interesting thing, and because Mandarin is a tonal language, it will be a lot of fun to practice the pronunciation with students.”

For more information about Concordia University, Nebraska, courses and programs, visit its website at cune.edu, send an email to admiss@cune.edu or call 800-535-5494.

Posted Sept. 19, 2014