THE ABACUS AND THE WEB BEHIND THE GREAT WALL: "FLIPPING" FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSES IN MAINLAND CHINA, THAT IS THE QUESTION

The term "flipped or inverted classroom" has become an important focus in the Education arena, a shift that reflects a wider pedagogical trend in the use of emerging Technologies in Educational Institutions worldwide. This paper will provide you with a description of our experiences flipping foreign language courses in an English medium university in Modern mainland China. It will also discuss strategies, and present resources working from within the confines of the Great Firewall. We will illustrate some uses and applications of the different resources that boost students' active participation in the class by making the audience experience those resources first-hand. To do so, we will "gamify" their experience using a free game-based learning platform called Kahoot and Mentimeter. The final aim of this article is to share the lessons learned in an ongoing research where students transition from a traditional class in mainland China, to a more engaging, effective and stimulating one which facilitates a collaborative learning environment that integrates technology to foster the growth of 21st century lifelong learners.