USA

Are you thinking about becoming a Chinese teacher or perhaps already teaching but considering moving to another State?  Then read on. 

What is certification?   Different States have different certification requirements.  For Chinese teachers  this means that you either:

Unable to attend the biggest Chinese conference? Do not lose out.... 

Have a look at our highlights and plan to go next year to hear everything first hand and to network with other professional Chinese teachers. Whether you are from the US, or not, here you can catch up on the best from the plenary speakers and the workshops as The Chinese Staffroom has done the hard work of selecting some highlights and linking to much more.

Which conference are we talking about? ......  The 2011 US National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC) organized by the Asia Society, College Board and Mandarin Institute encourages dialogue in the field of Chinese language education to ensure its wide-scale success.

Some statistics........over 1000 attendees, of which1/4 do not have a Chinese programme but wanted to learn how to establish best practice in their school, many others wanting to learn about about ‘ next practice’ including new developments such as the use of technology in the classroom.......

A large number of standardized external assessments are available for measuring student performance for Chinese in the US.  Most of these assessments are fee-based and details can be found on the assessment body website.  Full details of all assessments are attached including links. 

Among the external evaluation options are the following:

- ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners

Why read this?  Are you a US Chinese teacher wanting to learn more about the STARTALK programme including details of the 2011 summer camps in which States and sample teaching resources from 2010?  We have all the links in this one location. Are you a non-US Chinese teacher who is  interested in how to make Chinese in your country mainstream by learning from the USA?

What is AP Chinese?  The Advanced Placement (AP) program is a curriculum in the United States sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college. Participating colleges grant credit to students who obtained high enough scores on the exams to qualify. The AP is generally regarded as  "usually much more rigorous than the general course offerings.

Interested in national language policy?

This short video from the Asia Society highlights the case for United States to improved foreign language and cultural understanding capacity.   Parallels to be drawn with the UK perhaps?

Interested to know how Chinese language programs have grown in the United States over the past five years?

“The most significant barrier to meeting student demand to learn Chinese is the lack of trained and certified teachers.”   Sound familiar?   Interested to learn how the US are tackling this challenge?