TEACHING CHINESE IN AFRICA: COMMITMENT AND INNOVATION

Abstract

Language teaching goes hand in hand with the culture teaching insofar as Dumont (1995) states "[...] since the tongue is only the most beautiful flower of a culture, we do not dissociate it from its stem or roots. In the attachment we dedicate to it, we include the community of which it is the heir and guardian." Hence with China-Africa relations constantly consolidating, the popularity of Chinese in Africa is growing stronger and stronger. This significantly increases the number of African learners and their needs for learning Chinese. This change brings with it a number of problems such as a shortage of teachers, a lack of adequate teaching materials, low effectiveness of work, an appropriate
place for language immersion outside China, etc. This article is based on the observation of the state of play of Chinese teaching-learning in Africa and nourished by a reflection based on a documentary research, with the objective of proposing some essential avenues for the
innovation of Chinese teaching-learning outside China.