Confucius Institute teachers & volunteers sent from China

[Tiana]

Hi,

I'm doing some simple research on this topic and I need information and feedback from members who have knowledge and/ or experience concerning teachers and volunteers sent from China by Hanban to teach at Confucius Institutes and Classrooms abroad.

With the rapid expansion and establishment of Confucius Institutes/ Classrooms, I would like to know:

- How Hanban manage to recruit enough qualified teachers to supply Confucius Institutes worldwide.

- How Chinese speakers can become Confucius Institute teachers and volunteers.

- Whether these teachers' teaching standard is comparable to the general standard expected of home teachers teaching foreign languages.

- Generally how long they can stay and teach at the host instittution (or whether these teachers are renewed yearly).

- Whether they have problems with obtaining the visa for the host countries.

etc...

I hope we have got some members here who would be able to help me with (some or all of) the above questions. Any other relevant information or questions will also be very welcome.

Thank you!

[fanglu]

I had a friend whose cousin became one of these teachers (a one or two-year contract I think). He had no experience or qualifications in teaching (he had a degree in philosophy), but he did have the most important qualification - a well-connected family.

[OneEye]

- How Hanban manage to recruit enough qualified teachers to supply Confucius Institutes worldwide.

Indeed, with a population of 1.3 billion people, I wonder how they find anyone to do anything in China.

[Tiana]

Thank you both for replying.

OneEye, my question is not how big is the Chinese population

[OneEye]

No, but your question implies that it must be difficult to find enough teachers for a few hundred institutes ("manage to recruit enough..."), which I found amusing. Taiwan's population is less than 2% of China's, and they manage to populate at least a couple hundred (public and private, just a guesstimate) language schools with "qualified" teachers, not to mention the abundance of part-time tutors with "Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language" certificates who hold regular jobs otherwise. So I'm sure China has no problem on this front.

[steveh]

I know that with a growing demand to increase the soft power of China, China is recruiting thousands of Chinese students and teachers to get Master degrees in teaching Chinese as a second language. One of the requirements is to have these teachers (many are already language teachers at Universities in China teaching foreigners Chinese) go abroad to other countries on behalf of Hanban for a year or two to teach.

Whether this accounts for all the volunteers or not, I am not sure. However, it is not guaranteed that those recruited have no experience teaching Chinese to foreigners. At the same time, it doesnt necessarily mean the teaching standard is equivalent to those of foreign language teachers in western countries. Every teacher has different standards of teaching. I've had some Chinese teachers who were very traditional and focused on reading and making sentences to learn Chinese (not the greatest way to learn these days). I've also had teachers who believed in being active and creating authentic like situations to practice the language.

As for visas, I dont know. I remember reading an article recently that Hanban teachers were applying for visas under the wrong categories in the US and would be getting their visas revoked, but later just to get new visas with the correct documents.

[Tiana]

Thank you steveh for your informative post. This is the kind of information I need.

Yes, I heard about the earlier visa problem in the US and I'm glad that it has been sorted.

These teachers and volunteers also face other problems (such as communication, culture shock, etc.) and I'm interested in hearing about.

I'm also trying to look up the difference between the two categories "teachers" vs "volunteers". I hope someone may be able to some shed light on this.

[siledouyaoai]

How Hanban manage to recruit enough qualified teachers to supply Confucius Institutes worldwide.

I've heard they don't. There are significant problems with the quality of teachers being sent abroad, some not really having any teaching experience or good enough language skills. This is hardly surprising, considering they are being thrown into a completely different education system, which in the case of the UK at least, teaches in quite a different way to how teachers in China are taught to teach. Add to that, teachers are selected by very disorganised government agencies, probably without any particularly rigorous requirements (being in the right university is the most important thing).

Universities with Confucius institutes abroad are partnered with Chinese universities, so the selection process isn't as open as it might seem. I used to study at 云南师范大学, and if you want to go to Thailand to teach, it is pretty easy. Applying to a Western Confucius institute from that university is anything but easy.

As for volunteers, I think it might be a bit easier. A colleague I work with did a two week course and then was sent over to be a teaching assistant. I don't think she had any previous teaching experience.

Of course, local schools and universities are only too happy to employ these teachers, because they generally don't have to pay.

So the Chinese government is thinking of their soft power, and the local schools their balance sheets. I don't think this makes for good education.

(This is probably influenced by the fact that I'm studying to teach Chinese in a British university, where local teachers are very critical of the Confucius Institute. From what I've seen, I don't think that is without good reason though).

[Tiana]

Thank you, siledouyaoai. It's a great post (and I'm taking a note of what you've said! )

Of course, local schools and universities are only too happy to employ these teachers, because they generally don't have to pay.

So the Chinese government is thinking of their soft power, and the local schools their balance sheets. I don't think this makes for good education.

This is indeed worrying. I love learning languages and it seems language teaching is going from bad to worse.

[Tiana]

[Duplicate post]