Visiting Teachers from China Address Forums

Zhengzhong Jia, who teaches at Catholic Memorial School, West Roxbury, Mass., is visiting the United States as part of the Chinese Guest Teacher Program.

At each regional forum, keynote speaker Da Chen was joined by a representative of the 2009 Chinese Guest Teacher Program, a partnership of the College Board, the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages and the Office of Chinese Language Council International, also known as Hanban. Each representative is a guest teacher from China visiting a school or district for one to three years to teach Chinese language and culture and help start or build a Chinese program.

The teachers addressed the audience and shared their experiences in the classroom and as new visitors to the United States. In the Southwest, Yu Mao is teaching at Duncan Public Schools in Duncan, Okla. In the Midwest, Junli Wei is visiting the Urbana Public Schools in Urbana, Ill. Chong Feng is a guest teacher at the Indiana Area School District in Indiana, Pa., and addressed the Middle States Regional Forum. In the Southern Region, Lei Liang, who is teaching at the Richmond County School System in Augusta, Ga., was the speaker. In the West, Yanxia Xu is at the Hulstrom Options K-8 School in Northglenn, Colo., and in New England, Zhengzhong Jia is teaching at Catholic Memorial School in West Roxbury, Mass.

Zhengzhong Jia, who is an English teacher from southwest China, said it was a great honor to be chosen for the program, and is building a sister relationship with his school back home. He teaches his American students not only language and literature, but also calligraphy and Chinese culture. “I am trying to teach the children what China is really like. For the Chinese New Year, I cooked Chinese food with 50 students and staff members. It was quite trying, but when I found out that students went home and tried to cook Chinese food for their family members, it made me very happy.” He shared some of his favorite new experiences as a visitor to the Boston area, including an invitation to a Boston College football game in the pouring rain (he said he had never witnessed people going so crazy over a game) and bike rides along the beautiful Charles River. He said that some of his American colleagues have asked him if it was hard for him to leave his family for this time. “It is hard,” he said, “but this experience has truly opened my eyes and widened my horizon.”

The deadline to apply to host a guest teacher in your school or district has been extended to March 20, 2009. Guest teachers will arrive in August 2009 and teach for a period of one to three years. Click here to learn more and apply.

For schools or districts interested in building or starting a Chinese program, the College Board’s other Chinese language and culture initiatives can also help. School and district leaders are invited to apply for the 2009 Chinese Bridge Delegation trip to China, which takes place June 22-June 30, 2009. On this tour, educators learn about the country, its culture and its education system. They visit schools and cultural sites, build ties with Chinese and U.S. educators, and gather ideas for starting a Chinese language program.

The College Board, Asia Society and Chicago Public Schools invite all interested educators to attend the 2009 National Chinese Language Conference in Chicago April 30-May 2, 2009. The conference is dedicated to promoting Chinese language and culture education and global competencies for U.S. students.

Learn more about Chinese language and culture initiatives at www.collegeboard.com/k12chinese.

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