UTSA hosts Chinese language conference

This weekend, the UTSA College of Education and Human Development, the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies and the East Asia Institute will sponsor the 2009 Annual Conference of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Texas (CLTA-Texas). The conference, also supported by the Confucius Institute at Texas A&M University and the Education Office of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Houston, promotes teaching Chinese as a foreign and heritage language in Texas.

The CLTA-Texas conference is open to Chinese language teachers, principals and administrators from public and private high schools, heritage schools and universities in San Antonio and the surrounding areas such as Houston, Dallas and Austin. Leaders from Chinese organizations in San Antonio and Austin and UTSA students also are invited to attend the conference.

This year's conference, themed "Connecting Classroom Teaching to the Real World," will include six panels and 16 presenters -- all teachers, principals and language program coordinators from high schools, heritage Chinese schools, and colleges and universities. Panel topics will range from the establishment and development of Chinese programs to effective K-16 teaching methods.

Claudia Ross, a professor from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and vice president of CLTA at the national level, will present the keynote address titled "How Long Does it Take to Learn Chinese?" Ross is the author of "Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar" published by Routledge Press.