Tampa, February 24th, 2012 - With the concerted efforts of the Confucius Institute at the University of South Florida (USF) and the Asia Society, the second annual K-16 Chinese Conference was successfully held at the University of South Florida. Over 100 Chinese language teachers and school administrators from Florida, as well as over 100 Chinese language teachers from other states gathered on the USF Tampa campus to listen to lectures from education experts, to exchange teaching experience and to acquire teaching resources. Other partners for the conference include USF Department of World Languages, Florida Department of Education, and Florida Chinese Teachers Association.

The conference participants coming from different states were welcomed by speeches from Karen Holbrook, Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation and Global Affairs, USF, and Lori Rodriguez, Bureau Chief for Language Acquisition, Florida Department of Education. The General Session had two keynote speakers: Dr. Eric Shepherd and Dr. Wu Weiling. Mr. Shi Kun and Chris Livaccari introduced resources of the USF Confucius Institute and Asia Society respectively. Later, all participants enjoyed performances such as story-telling, singing and tongue twisters given by 5 college and high school students. In the afternoon, a session was held to share teaching experience with Chinese language teachers from primary and secondary schools, and the speakers were Eric Shepherd, Wu Weiling, Qin Xizhen, Meng Yeh, and Chiachyi Chiu. In addition, another session was held in a branch hall for school administrators to introduce management practices in regards to Chinese language programs and resources for establishing schools. Dr. Hsiang-te Kung coming all the way from the University of Memphis also shared his insights.

The participants were very positive about the conference and appreciated the sponsors’ efforts in holding the conference. Many are already looking forward to next year’s annual conference. The Confucius Institute at USF expressed that it was pleased to coordinate the efforts of all quarters to facilitate the conference become a platform to promote the development of Chinese language education in Florida