Earlier this month on December 10th, TIRF Trustee Dr. David Nunan, Professor Emeritus of Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong, took part in a Q&A session with colleagues in China. The session was based on a presentation he prepared for members of Chengdu Duoweimingju (DWMJ) Institute of Education, which involves language educators, researchers, and administrators throughout China.
In his presentation, David argued that given the pace of change, the knowledge explosion, and the technological revolution, a new approach to teaching language to young learners is needed. He shared that the field must take a learner-centered view, in order to develop the whole child in our classrooms, and not just focus on narrowly conceived language skills.
David described the broader skills and competencies that learners need for global citizenship. He shared practical classroom principles and techniques using illustrations from Go For It, the series he developed for young English language learners in China.
TIRF is grateful to David for his presentation and for engaging with colleagues in China during the Q&A session. His work is helping TIRF meet part of its mission, which relates to offering professional development opportunities to colleagues around the world.
TIRF-delivered presentations for DWMJ will soon be posted to TIRF’s website and promoted widely via its newsletter and social media channels. Be sure to follow future updates from TIRF for further information on its Speaker Series for DWMJ!
