ABOUT 130 Americans start a year of teaching at Shenzhen schools today, the beginning of the new school year.
It is the largest number of foreign teachers employed by the city education bureau since 1998, an official in charge of the program, who identified herself as Huang, said yesterday.
The teachers, all recruited through a Center for Teaching and Learning in China program, will teach oral English at more than 80 public primary and middle schools until July next year.
They will help create an English-learning environment and enhance English speaking and communication skills, said Huang.
“All these teachers are required to have a bachelor’s degree with more than two years of experience in related fields and those who have the world-recognized Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificates are preferred,” said Huang.
Apart from teaching, the teachers will also help local English teachers prepare teaching plans to enhance the quality of English teaching and coach students participating in English competitions to raise their competitiveness, said Huang.
“Introducing foreign teachers at schools is a good way to increase students’ interest in English learning and help them improve communication skills with foreigners,” said Huang.
“I’m very excited about teaching at Shenzhen Foreign Languages School. Students here are very active and eager to learn English. Parents and teachers are very welcoming,” said Megan Vaughan-Albert, 23.
“I heard that students in this school have a very high level of English skills and I hope my teaching will be a success for the students and school,” she said. Vaughan-Albert is one of the six foreign teachers teaching in SFLS this year.
She taught in Futian Foreign Language School last year through the program and succeeded in applying as one of the 130 foreign teachers from more than 1,000 applicants again this year.
The education bureau started recruiting foreign teachers to teach at schools for a school year in 1998. So far, there have been 13 groups with about 700 foreign teachers coming here to teach.
“The number of the teachers has increased sharply year by year from 12 in 1998 to more than 100 this year due to an increase in the demand for English teaching,” said Huang.
The progress made by introducing foreign teachers was significant. “They have been a great help in enhancing the students’ English levels. Because of them, Shenzhen students’ English scores and oral English scores for the National College Entrance Examination have been No. 1 in Guangdong Province over the past few years,” said Huang.
Foreigners interested in joining in the program can call the Shenzhen Foreign Experts Affairs Bureau on 8336-0205 or check the Web site at http://shenzhen.caiep.org/ for more information.
Wang Yuanyuan