Teacher training in teaching Chinese as a second language

With the enthusiasm in learning Chinese all around the world, there is a tremendous need of Chinese teachers. The high quality Chinese language teacher team is a core element to ensure teaching quality. Therefore, the training for teachers play an important role in Chinese education. For a long time, some concepts, contents and the methods in the training are far apart from the real classes (Lv, 2005; Liu, 2005). The mode of training for Chinese language teachers should be transferred from the language and linguistic study to intercultural and interactive process model (Ji, 2012).The training for Chinese teachers should be objective, scientific, and practical. A good Chinese teacher not only masters the professional knowledge but also has the ability to apply it to the real classes. Therefore, the training includes: (1) Knowledge training: it covers the basic knowledge and skill about Chinese and foreign language, education and psychology， such as the second language acquisition and learning strategy, etc. (2) Teaching skill training: visiting the Chinese class and microteaching are set up to enrich their teaching experience. (3) Cultural communication: this part involves Chinese-foreign cultural comparison and intercultural communication, which is to improve the cross-cultural awareness of teachers. According to the Standards for Teachers of Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages issued by Hanban (2009), Chinese teachers should have the ability to analyze and do research on teaching, and the awareness of self-development; be active in professional and community activities to enrich the teaching archives; have spirits of affinity, sense of responsibility, cooperation and strategy under various circumstances; have a good psychological qualities and ethical standards to handle the unexpected events in teaching under whatever circumstances. This paper illustrates the methods and strategies of three dimension in training (knowledge training, teaching skill training, and cultural communication training) with the above standards and explores how to further enhance teacher’s quality and comprehensive abilities.