[EDLING:1434] Overseas Demand for Chinese Teachers Rises

[Francis M. Hult]

China Daily

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/811/2006/04/07/167@74245.htm

2006-04-07 07:08:04      

Overseas Demand for Chinese Teachers Rises 

The annual recruitment of State-sponsored teachers to teach Chinese overseas 
will begin today, an official with the China National Office for Teaching 
Chinese as a Foreign Language said on Thursday. 

Ma Jianfei, deputy director of the office, said the recruitment notice will be 
posted on the office's official website and applicants can sign up for the 
selection exam, which will be held at the end of this month. Applications 
close on April 20. 

Ma said the office will recruit 70 qualified teachers this year, who will be 
sent to more than 30 countries. 

Minimum requirements include: a university degree; two years of teaching 
experience; Putonghua (Mandarin) level 2A or above; aged under 55; and a good 
command of the target country's language. 

Applicants will need to pass three exams organized by the office: a foreign 
language test; a general test (such as expression, psychology, speech, 
personality and appearance); a professional skills test (applicants will be 
required to fulfil a teaching task). 

Ma said the exams need to be strict because the State-sponsored teachers 
represent China's national image and serve as cultural messengers. 

Ma said worldwide demand for Chinese teachers has increased rapidly in recent 
years and for a long time there have not been enough competent teachers to 
meet demand. 

For example, the United States' College Board is going to offer an advanced 
placement course in Chinese next year, which means more than 2,000 high 
schools in the United States will need Chinese teachers in the future. 

To meet this increasing demand for Chinese teachers, the office recruits year 
round for volunteer overseas Chinese teachers. 

The office plans to send at least 120 volunteers to the United States this 
year, compared with only nine last year. 

The volunteer teachers, most of whom are undergraduates or graduate students 
at school, mainly work in high schools, while State-sponsored teachers work 
mainly in colleges and universities. 

Volunteer teachers receive only a small subsidy (from US$400 to 600), while 
State-sponsored teachers usually receive government funds of between US$1,200 
to 1,500. 

Despite the low income and possible inferior working environment, 

Chinese students are enthusiastic to volunteer and more than 6,000 qualified 
applicants have enrolled themselves in the office's reserve force of teachers, 
Ma said. 

"The experience of teaching Chinese in a foreign country will be a beneficial 
experience for them," Ma said. 

Ma said many students volunteer to go the remotest and poorest areas of a 
foreign country. 

Dai Xixin, 42, is an associate professor of the Beijing Language and Culture 
University. Dai taught Chinese for two years at the National Autonomy 
University of Mexico from 2002 to 2004 and described her job as "very pleasant 
and rewarding." 

"The difference between teaching in China and in Mexico is that in a foreign 
country you are not only a teacher of Chinese but also a delegate representing 
China's image and displaying Chinese culture," Dai said. 

Dai said Mexican students respect their teachers, just as Chinese students are 
eager to learn more about China. Some students learn Chinese because they can 
find a better job with a good command of the language. 

Chen Ruofan, 40, Dai's colleague, served as a Chinese consultant to New 
Zealand's Ministry of Education from 2002 to 2004. Her job was to supervise 
the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language in high schools and to advise on 
the curriculum. 

Chen said New Zealand high school students can choose from five foreign 
languages: French, Chinese, Japanese, German and Spanish. In recent years, the 
number of students who want to learn Chinese has rapidly increased.