Henan University (HENU) and the American Academy of International Culture and Education (AAICE) signed an agreement in the fall of 2021, to jointly organize and conduct the Autumn Online Teaching Program for American College Students. With the purpose to expand the international Chinese education against the pandemic background, the program is expected to promote in-depth development of online language and culture teaching between Chinese and American college students. This is another cooperation between the two parties after the successful completion of Summer Online Scholarship Program for American Elementary and Secondary School Students. Under the theme "Experiencing Chinese Culture", this project is divided into six topics: Chinese Music Culture, Film Culture, Television and Idol Culture, Internet Culture, Martial Arts Culture, and Costume and Architecture Culture. By presenting authentic life scenes, it allows students to experience China in terms of life in reality, culture and entertainment, online community and current status of cultural and humanistic fields; at the same time, students are expected to pick up and master Chinese expressions used in various life scenes. With culture as a bridge, students' knowledge of Chinese culture will be enriched, and their Chinese language and cross-cultural communication skills will be improved. Carried out via Zoom meeting, this teaching program started from October 6^th, lasting for a total of 12 weeks. The first six weeks will be online teaching, and the following six weeks will take the form of peer communication between Chinese and American students under the guidance of teachers.

Huiling MA, Vice Dean of the International School for Chinese Language and Culture, is responsible for the teaching section of this program. To make the project proceed smoothly, she organized a team consisting six teachers from the International School for Chinese Language and Culture, College of Chinese Language and Literature, and the School of Foreign Languages, as well as nearly 20 undergraduates and postgraduates majoring in Chinese International Education, Subject Teaching Chinese Major, and Foreign Language Translation as teaching assistants. The teaching team formulated curriculum, shot teaching videos, and conducted online teaching training collectively.

AAICE provided six online training seminars, including "Intelligible Input" by teacher Marty CHEN; "5Cs and Three Modes" and "Project Introduction" by teacher Lisa Huan Healy, "Grammar Teaching: Teaching Strategies and Class Activities" by teacher Tong CHEN, “AP Project" by teacher Dali TAN, as well as "Teaching with Authentic Materials from Motivation to Evaluation" by Maggie CHEN. These training courses enabled teachers and teaching assistants to have a preliminary understanding of teaching concept and basic requirements in American classroom, and the differences in teaching methods between China and the United States.

At 8:00 am on October 6th (8:00 pm on October 5th, U.S. Eastern Time), AAICE and three partner universities including HENU, Zhengzhou University and Shandong University held an online program briefing and class opening ceremony. AAICE project managers including Lisa Huang Healy and Marty CHEN, project managers, teachers, and teaching assistants from the three partner universities, together with approximately 300 students from elementary and secondary schools as well as colleges in United States attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by teacher Marty CHEN. Huiling MA along with teacher represntatives Peng WANG, Yingjian LU, Shufang XUE, Hui DOU and Dan Li attended the briefing online.

Marty CHEN firstly gave a welcome speech and introduced the representatives from each university present at the meeting, and the representatives delivered speech respectively. Professor Ma Huiling gave a general introduction of Henan University, and the cultural and historical profoundness of Chinese culture in Kaifeng, where the university is located. Teacher Marty Chen expressed her genuine delight to meet the teaching teams from all universities, and her expectation of working with everyone online. Then she introduced what AAICE is and what this association is devoted to. Finally, she hoped that all sides involved will endeavor together to see the successful completion of this program.

Afterwards, students entered the individual online classroom assigned to them to have the first class. Peng WANG actively organize class activities to make it cheerful and relaxing, so that students quickly get to know each other and appreciate Chinese music. In the first class on "Chinese Musical Instruments" by Hui DOU, American college students learned about a wealth of Chinese musical instruments and learned the verbs "blow, pull, pluck, and knock" related to musical instrument performance. The music video" Lord Lanling Entering the Battle" and "Aesthetic China·Kaifeng" from Henan TV played in the classroom illustrated what is popular and real in China today, which attracted great interest from American college students. The harmonious atmosphere amid warm and friendly discussions on class shortened the physical distance between teachers and students. The first class of the Autumn Online Teaching Program for American College Students ended among active speeches from students, passionate teachings from teachers, and effective cooperation from teaching assistants.

This program not only provides American college students with the opportunity to learn Chinese and experience Chinese culture in authentic scenes, it also helps undergraduates and postgraduates majoring in Chinese International Education in Henan University to practice teaching. More importantly, it bridges between China and the United States for cultural exchanges and creates conditions for Chinese students to carry out more cultural communications between China and the United States.

(From: International School for Chinese Language and Culture)