Learning from each other: co-teaching Chinese to pre-service teachers

This study presents a case study co-teaching of beginner level Chinese as part of initial teacher education in England. The study involved interviews with teachers and observations of planning and teaching. The teaching in this study aims to teach elementary teachers Chinese language and culture, whilst developing an elementary languages pedagogy which works in the English primary school. The innovative co-teaching by a native-speaker teacher and by a languages teacher, planning, developing and teaching the program together is new in the UK and offered lessons to both teachers. The findings of the study include the different assumptions underpinning aspects of the successful interaction and areas where the teachers learnt from shared reflection and observation as part of co-teaching. Practices which the teachers developed include target language use, practice and strategy use, and homework. This paper raises issues not only for the teaching of Chinese, but also the teaching of other languages in the elementary school and emphasizes the value of co-teaching, in which teachers can go beyond their exiting practices and learn from shared reflection