Message from the Immediate Past President
December 30, 2015

Dear CLTA members and friends,

As 2015 is drawing to a close, I write on behalf of the 2015 board and officers of CLTA to thank you for your loyalty and support to CLTA, and wish all of you a happy and successful 2016 ahead.

2015 has been a momentous and productive year for CLTA. We progressed and enhanced our many traditional endeavors, such as organizing panels and workshops at the ACTFL annual convention; editing and publishing the CLTA journal and newsletter; developing the CLTA website; presenting awards and prizes to recognize outstanding achievements and to support the professional developments of CLTA members; and outreaching and cooperating with other national and international organizations in second language teaching. More significantly, in 2015 we successfully implemented several initiatives with far-reaching importance. The following are some highlights:

  • Through a vote of the membership, the official (and more accurate) name of CLTA was adjusted to the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA (CLTA-USA, alias CLTA) and 美國中文教師學會 or 美国中文教师学会 in Chinese.
  • Through a design contest and a vote of the membership, the official logo of CLTA was selected and released.
  • A new online journal, K-12 Chinese Language Teaching 《中小学中文教学》, was launched to fill a common want of an academic forum primarily concerned with issues of Chinese teaching at the K-12 level.
  • The publication of the Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association《中文教師學 會學報》has been smoothly transferred to John Benjamins beginning in 2016 with the new name Chinese as a Second Language: The Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association-USA《漢語教學研究: 美國中文教師學會學報》.
  • The CLTA Chinese National Honor Society was established to recognize the outstanding academic achievement of college and university Chinese learners.
  • A new CLTA award, the Tao-chung “Ted” Yao’s Memorial Award was established to support graduate students presenting papers at CLTA organized conferences. The award is sponsored with the Tao-chung “Ted” Yao’s Memorial Fund, which has drawn the largest donation that CLTA has received so far in its history.
  • The First National Conference of the Regional Chinese Teachers Associations was held with great success.
  • The Second CLTA International Symposium on Chinese Language Teaching and Learning (CLTA-S2), to be held at the University of Maryland from April 1-3, 2016, has been prepared. About 170 presentations of keynote, special forum, panel, workshop or teaching demo will be made at the symposium.

Additionally, 2015 also saw the successful transfer of the CLTA headquarters from Indiana University to the University of Vermont is, thanks to the great effort and cooperation of Professor John Jing-hua Yin and Professor Yea-fen Chen, the current and past Executive Directors. As the new ED, Professor Yin’s dedication is fundamental for the stable development of the organization.

While we celebrate the development of CLTA, I thank all of you for the trust and privilege that you have given me in my role as the President of CLTA this year. It was a great pleasure and honor to have served in this capacity and to have been able to make substantial changes that have put CLTA on more solid ground. The 2015 Board of Directors and officers were a great team. I enjoyed working with every team members, and highly appreciate their cooperation and hard work. I especially want to thank the members on the Steering Committee: professors Cecilia Chang, Helen Shen, Chaofen Sun, and Hongyin Tao. Their close work with me, with the devotion of their time, professionalism and outstanding expertise, was instrumental for us to embrace the challenges and realize the goals of CLTA.

Now the torch has passed to the capable hands of Professor Helen Shen, the elected 2016 President. I would like to personally congratulate her, and wish the 2016 board and officers under Shen Laoshi’s leadership great success in the endeavors ahead.

Yours very truly,

Chengzhi Chu
2015 President of CLTA
University of California, Davis