Canal Winchester Local Schools were selected to host a native Mandarin-speaking teacher as part of the 2008 Chinese Guest Teacher Program.
One hundred and thirty six teachers will be placed across 32 states to teach at the high school, middle school, and elementary school level. This is the third group of teachers to arrive in the U.S. as part of an ongoing collaboration between Hanban, China’s Office of Chinese Language Council International and the College Board.
Canal Winchester High School and Middle School will welcome Huapeng (Robin) Dai, who will be teaching Chinese I at the high school. A Chinese I Exploratory class was also taught to a group of sixth graders at the middle school on Aug. 26
The Chinese Guest Teacher Program is a collaboration of the College Board, the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL), and China’s Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban). Teachers receive monthly living stipend directly from Hanban while local schools are responsible for mentoring, housing, transportation and for the costs of the required visa processing and required health insurance. The College Board and the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) representatives interview guest teachers individually to assess teaching skills, adaptability and English proficiency.
The program represents an opportunity for students and educators to learn Chinese and learn about China from a native speaker. In addition, guest teachers will assist with curriculum development, student recruitment, and materials development and will serve as a cultural resource for other subject areas and for cultural enrichment activities.
The guest teachers work at host schools for one year and then have the option to stay for up to three years if both the school and teacher are satisfied. The Chinese Guest Teacher Program seeks to address the shortage of qualified Chinese teachers in the U.S. and meet the growing interest in Chinese among U.S. students.
In an Advanced Placement Program(r) (AP(r)) survey conducted in 2004, nearly 2,400 high schools expressed an interest in offering the AP Chinese course in 2006-07, but for many of these schools, this goal may go unrealized. They either are understaffed or have no teacher of Chinese, and many see no prospect of finding the teachers necessary to build their programs. This increasingly common predicament underscores the shortage of qualified teachers of Chinese in the United States. According to the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools, there are currently only about 250 Chinese language teachers in U.S. secondary schools.
