April 25^th ushered in the first session of Huaqiao University (HQU) Cloud Classroom for its Thai Chinese Language Teachers Training Course. Co-sponsored by HQU and Chinese Teachers (Thailand) Association and organized by Chinese Language and Culture College of HQU, the course is supported by Thai-Chinese Correspondence Association of Journalists in media and Thai-Chinese News Agency in technology. Provided for the Chinese language teachers in Thailand are courses such as Three Common Ways of Online Teaching, Tips for the Input of Chinese Characters and the Teaching of Chinese Phonetics. Shen Ling, Chen Jianxing and Zhang Na from Chinese Language and Culture College of HQU conducted the classes through Ding Talk video conferences and Facebook live streaming. More than 400 teachers in Thailand watched the live lectures online, over 5,000 teachers watched the replay, and nearly 20,000 people followed the training events.

The HQU Cloud Classroom training pattern is HQU's new attempt in carrying out Chinese language education in Thailand, and an initiative of the Chinese Teachers (Thailand) Association. As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, Chinese language teachers worldwide, including those in Thailand, are facing the huge challenge of "teaching and learning", and many schools in Thailand have closed down. Therefore, the Chinese language courses should be taught online without delay and teachers are likely to face many problems and difficulties while dealing with these classes. Deeply concerned about Chinese language teachers in Thailand and inspired by the Chinese experience of nonstop teaching and learning during COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese Teachers (Thailand) Association explored a training mode of "live stream + recording" which combines the online teaching platforms of China with the social networking platforms commonly used by Chinese language teachers in Thailand. Referring to the offline teachers’ training activities previously carried out as the "first classroom" for teachers' learning, the Chinese Teacher (Thailand) Association named this new online training mode as the "second classroom". Suitable for teacher training during the pandemic, the "second classroom" can accurately and instantly grasp the curriculum needs of teachers in real time and promote training in a quick and efficient way with the advantages such as reducing the risk of crowd gathering, saving costs, real-time interaction, no geographical restrictions, permanently accessible online, and unlimited playback.

To address the urgent needs for online teaching tools and methods for Thai Chinese teachers during the pandemic and to be well prepared for the live training, HQU designed the content for the first session of HQU Cloud Classroom as it second classroom and completed the pretest and other work with the Chinese Teachers (Thailand) Association.

As is scheduled, HQU Cloud Classroom will hold its second session for Thai Chinese language teachers on May 2^nd.