CCS to Host Guest Teachers from China

Cabarrus County Schools was selected to host native Mandarin-speaking teachers from China for the 2012-13 school year as part of the Chinese Guest Teacher Program, a collaboration of the College Board and China's Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban).

The program places visiting teachers from China in U.S. elementary, middle and high schools for one to three years, in order to jump-start or expand school Chinese language and culture programs.

For the 2012-13 school year, three Chinese language teachers are among 172 Chinese guest teachers, including 113 new arrivals, who will be teaching at approximately 246 elementary and secondary schools across 31 states.

Cabarrus County Schools welcomes three new teachers to the district:

Yili Zhang
Ying Geng
Mei Lu

The teachers will lead Chinese language programs at Cox Mill Elementary, Cox Mill High, Harris Road Middle, Hickory Ridge High and Hickory Ridge Middle Schools.

"We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the College Board and Confucius Institute," said Barry Shepherd, superintendent. "Our students continue to show a keen interest in learning Mandarin. In fact, that interest is so great that we are expanding this language offering to three additional schools for the 2012-2013 school year."

"I am incredibly proud to hail the latest group of Chinese Guest Teachers and the Chinese Guest Teacher Program, which has helped bring Chinese language and culture to thousands of American youths, many of them traditionally underserved. At the College Board, we strongly believe that familiarity with Chinese language and culture will be critical to America's economic and political future, and the stronger our ties are with the people of China, the more peaceful and prosperous the world will be," said College Board President Gaston Caperton.

Participation in the Chinese Guest Teacher Program has grown since the first group of 37 teachers arrived in January 2007. To date, almost 700 guest teachers have served in the program, reaching over 100,000 students. The program represents a unique opportunity for students and educators to learn Chinese and learn about China from a native speaker.  In addition, guest teachers assist with curriculum development, student recruitment, and materials development and serve as a cultural resource for other subject areas and for cultural enrichment activities.

Prior to their selection, guest teachers underwent a rigorous screening process and were interviewed by a team from the College Board and the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) to assess teaching skills, adaptability and English proficiency.

Hanban organizes a six-week training before the teachers leave China, provides the teachers with international transportation and partially subsidizes the guest teachers' salaries to lessen the costs to host schools and districts. NCSSFL collaborates with the College Board to provide training and support for the teachers, and the Institute of International Education serves as the visa sponsor for the program.

Before arriving in their local communities, guest teachers visit Los Angeles to participate in the STARTALK Chinese Guest Teacher Summer Institute (GTSI), a 10-day pre-service training hosted by the UCLA Confucius Institute. The Guest Teacher Summer Institute offers professional development and cultural orientation, covering such topics as the structure of U.S. K-12 education, K-12 foreign language teaching standards, communication strategies, course design, classroom management and materials development. It is organized by the College Board in collaboration with the NCSSFL and the UCLA Confucius Institute, and made possible by support from Hanban and a grant from STARTALK, which is one of the projects of the National Security Language Initiative, a multiagency effort to expand foreign language education in under-taught critical languages.

The Chinese Guest Teacher Program, the Chinese Bridge Delegation and the National Chinese Language Conference are part of the Chinese Language & Culture Initiatives, a collaboration of the College Board and Hanban. The Chinese Bridge Delegation has enabled approximately 3,000 U.S. educators to visit China to observe schools and cultural sites, participate in workshops, and meet with Chinese and U.S. educators to form educational ties.  The National Chinese Language Conference, organized by the College Board in conjunction with Asia Society, is the largest annual gathering on Chinese language teaching and learning in North America. For more information about the College Board's Chinese Language & Culture Initiatives, visit www.collegeboard.org/k12chinese.

Chinese is the national language of the more than 1.3 billion inhabitants of China and millions more ethnic Chinese around the globe, and is the most widely spoken first language in the world. As of August 2010, China's economy has surpassed Japan's and become the second-largest economy in the world behind the U.S.

About the College Board
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world's leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success - including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.