Foundation Certificate in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

The Foundation Certificate in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language course is jointly designed and run by the London Confucius Institute and the SOAS Language Centre. The course is open to anyone who is interested in acquiring and developing foundation knowledge and skills in teaching Chinese as a foreign language to English speakers.

There are three major elements in the Foundation Certificate programme - Chinese language, language teaching methodologies, and teaching practice. The course aims to develop participants’ knowledge of the Chinese language and their ability to analyse the language in order to teach it to English speakers. The course is conducted in both Chinese and English. The Foundation Certificate will be accepted as meeting the Chinese language awareness requirement that forms part of the entry test for the SOAS Certificate in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language course.

The Foundation Certificate course consists of three modules. Each module is delivered over 32 contact hours. Course participants are expected to spend approximately 100 additional hours per module on reading and assignments. The course is offered in two formats: part time (usually over the SOAS school terms) and intensive (usually during the summer holiday periods).

Entry requirements

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in language learning and teaching and have a good command of Chinese and English. Admission is by interview and a 60-minute written test consisting of both English and Chinese elements. Applicants are expected to have equivalent language proficiencies in English of IELTS score 5.0 and in Chinese of HSK Grade 9.

Course fees

The course fee is £520.00 per module. Those who successfully complete the first module and wish to continue are entitled to discounted fees of £495.00 for the second module and £465.00 for the third module. A minimum of 8 participants is required for the course to be confirmed.

All classes take place 10:00 - 12:00 and 13:00 - 15:00 on each teaching day.

Application procedure

Applicants must complete the application form and return it to Ms Sian Davies (sd17@soas.ac.uk) at the SOAS Language Centre, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG, with payment (via credit card or cheque payable to SOAS) to be received by noon Monday 23 June 2008. Admission tests and interviews will be conducted from 1:00 pm on Saturday 28 June 2008. For further enquiries, please contact Ms. Nina Chang at the London Confucius Institute (lci@soas.ac.uk, tel. 020 7898 4762).