Our 23rd Annual Chinese Teaching Conference ‘Expanding Horizons through Chinese: Connecting Language, Culture, and Careers’ is happening this weekend on Saturday 10th October 2026.
In this year’s programme you’ll find plenaries, speeches, performances as well as workshops covering a wide range of topics. Ahead of the conference, we’re speaking with some of our workshop presenters to explore the themes, ideas and classroom practice they will be sharing with delegates.
Rose Ren is Head of Chinese at Streatham & Clapham High School and co-chair of the GDST Mandarin Network. She has taught Mandarin in both state and independent secondary schools and holds a PGCE and MTeach from UCL Institute of Education. She recently completed an MSc in Learning and Teaching at the University of Oxford with Distinction. Her dissertation explored how explicit teaching of cognitive and metacognitive strategies can support Chinese character learning among Year 7 and Year 9 students. Her workshop draws on this classroom research to share practical approaches to developing students’ confidence, retention and independence.
Thank you to Rose for sharing some details about her upcoming workshop.
Can you tell us a bit about your workshop content?
My workshop draws on my MSc dissertation at the University of Oxford, which explored how explicit teaching of learning strategies can support Chinese character learning among Year 7 and Year 9 students. I will share findings from my classroom research and practical ways to help students remember characters, review their learning and become more independent learners.
What style of workshop are you planning to deliver?
I am planning an interactive workshop, combining a short introduction to the research with practical activities and discussion. Participants will have opportunities to try some of the strategies, share their own classroom experiences and consider how they could adapt the approaches for their students.
What made you choose this subject for this year’s conference?
Remembering Chinese characters is a challenge that many students face. My earlier research into motivation highlighted character retention as a particular difficulty, which led me to investigate how we can teach students to approach it more effectively. I wanted to share what I learned because helping students develop effective learning habits can make a difference to both their progress and their confidence.
What will attendees take away from your workshop?
Attendees will leave with practical strategies for Chinese character learning and ideas for teaching students to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning. I also hope the workshop will encourage colleagues to look beyond perceived ability and consider how explicit strategy teaching can help more students become successful learners.
We look forward to welcoming Rose and many other inspiring speakers to this year’s conference. Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of the conversation. Book your place today.
UCL IOE CCLE team