The making of a textbook: a Chinese language resource for the modern-day classroom

Go behind the scenes with two authors from the team who created ‘Social Perspective’, a Chinese textbook that explores social issues in contemporary China.

This is an online-only event. Please register via Eventbrite

Discover how this textbook addresses the needs of modern learners and teachers, weaving together key language and discussion of issues such as gender equality.

社会视角 Social Perspective by Yi Ning, Wei Shao, Zhengrong Yang and Esther Tydesley is a course aimed at intermediate to advanced learners. This volume of the textbook covers five current social issues in China (gender equality, e-commerce, Internet culture, food and health, and environmental protection) to provide students with a real-life background to increase their debating and written skills.  

This talk by Ning Yi and Esther Tyldesley will help you understand how a textbook is made and consider how language and culture are inextricably linked. Through real-life examples from the textbook and the speakers’ own experiences, the talk will increase your understanding of social issues in modern China as well as development of Chinese language teaching.  

Lead author Ning Yi, who taught Chinese at the University of Leeds for almost 30 years before her retirement in 2017, will introduce the textbook and share insights into how a publishing project like this works.  

Co-author Esther Tyldesley, who has an MA in Applied Translation Studies (Chinese) from the University of Leeds, will elaborate upon how the textbook links language to real-life issues, drawing from her own experience as a language learner and teacher and including examples related to the themes in the book. 

Target audience 

This talk will be delivered in English. The textbook is aimed at teachers of Chinese and Chinese learners at an intermediate level and above, and the talk may include some Chinese language content or assume some knowledge of Chinese culture. Anyone with a keen interest in the lecture topic is very welcome to attend. 

Further information about the speakers and textbook can be found on Eventbrite.