Submitted by urci on
On February 24, 2014, the Confucius Institutes at the University of Regina and at the University of Saskatchewan signed agreement with SOHL to support Chinese language teaching program.
SOHL, the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Language Inc. is a non-profit organization mandated to preserve and promote languages other than English and French in Saskatchewan through educational and cultural programs. International language taught through this program include: Chinese, Ukrainian, Spanish, Japanese, Norwegian, etc. In the year of 2012-2013, 14 out of 55 classrooms in SOHL are learning Chinese. This indicates that approximately 300 students per year are being exposed to Chinese language and culture through this program. Both Confucius Institute and SOHL see the opportunities of potential growth in this number. Since most of the Chinese language classes are located in the areas surrounding the city of Regina and Saskatoon, the Confucius Institutes at the University of Regina and at the University of Saskatchewan are happy to provide assistance to SOHL. The forms of assistance in the three-party agreement include financial and teaching support, textbook and teaching material assistance, professional development workshops for local Chinese language instructors,
and Chinese culture promotion activities in the next three years.
Dave Button, Vice-President of University of Regina, David J. Parkinson, Vice-Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Saskatchewan, Tamara Ruzic, Executive Director of SOHL signed the agreement on behalf of the three parties respectively. Chair of Mini language program of SOHL, Canadian and Chinese directors of both Confucius Institutes and all their Chinese teachers participated in the signing ceremony in the Global Learning Center at the University of Regina.
