Forty teachers from secondary schools and universities of three central Asian countries will receive a month of training in Chinese teaching at Lanzhou University based in northwest China's Gansu Province.

 

This is the second time Lanzhou University has trained teachers from central Asian countries in Chinese teaching since 2004.

 

The 40 teachers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will study Chinese vocabulary and culture, the methods of Chinese teaching, Chinese pronunciation, Chinese grammar and the cultural aspects.

 

They will also practise and observe Chinese teaching at Chinese schools and receive guidance for HSK tests, a Chinese language testing system, sources with the Lanzhou University said.

 

An opening ceremony for the training class was held at the Lanzhou University on Thursday morning.

 

The training program is an international cooperative program on Chinese teaching launched by the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language with the purpose of promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and central Asian countries.

 

Enthusiasm in learning Chinese has surged overseas in recent years.

 

Lu Jianji, a professor with Beijing Language and Culture University, said at the World Chinese Conference last year that more than 30 million people are learning Chinese worldwide and more than 2,500 universities in 100 countries are teaching Chinese.

 

At the end of last year, more than 500,000 people had taken the HSK tests, or Chinese proficiency tests, in over 120 countries and regions, as well as more than 500,000 people from Chinese ethnic minorities.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2006)