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The Confucius Institute will address the growing need for Chinese language teachers.

By University Communications
May 7, 2008

In the wake of China’s growing world influence, the demand for Chinese language instruction is growing as well. That includes The University of Arizona, which is establishing a Confucius Institute in collaboration with the Office of Chinese Language Council International, or Hanban.

Hanban is a nongovernmental and nonprofit organization affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education.

An official ceremony, led by UA President Robert N. Shelton, will be held May 16 to mark the event.

Confucius Institutes train teachers to meet the growing and diverse demands of the world’s Mandarin Chinese language learners and develop international curricula and proficiency benchmarks for Chinese language education. The UA is home to one of 42 Confucius Institutes in universities throughout the United States. Jun Liu, professor and head of the UA English department, will be the director of CIUA.

Liu is a recognized world leader in the field of language education. His research interests include standards development and curriculum design, teacher education, classroom-based second language learning and teaching and second language reading and writing. His most recent book is “Teaching English in China: New Perspectives, Approaches, and Standards.” Liu currently is series co-editor of the Michigan Series on Teaching Multilingual Writers, and editor of “Review of Applied Linguistics in China.”

His honors include the 1999 TESOL, or Teachers of English to the Speakers of Other Languages, Newbury House Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is co-founder and past chair of the Nonnative English Speakers in TESOL Caucus, and served on the TESOL Board of Directors, including a three-year term as president. He is first non-native English speaker in the association’s 41-year history.

The formal dedication of the UA center will include Madam Lin Xu, Hanban’s director-general and chief executive of the Confucius Institute headquarters. Xu is from Shanxi Province in China, graduated from the chemistry department at Fudan University in Shanghai and has a master’s degree in economics from Beijing Normal University.

Xu has held a variety of positions, including educational counselor for the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver, Canada, president of the Service Center for Chinese Study Fellows in New York, head of the Loan Office of Foreign Capital for the Ministry of Education, and assistant director-general and deputy director-general of the Finance Department for the Ministry of Education.