International on-line report (by Ren Jie): On November 10th, 2009, the Headquarter of China Confucius Institutes granted 1,021 foreigners the "Chinese Language Teacher Scholarship". They will receive two-year systematic Chinese language training in 50 institutions of higher learning in China before return and engage in the Chinese teaching in their own countries. This is the first large-scale initiative for China to help train the foreign Chinese language teachers.
Recent years have seen the heating-up of the "Chinese learning" in the world. Statistics show that the number of non-native Chinese learners has surpassed 40 million. Up to now, China has established over 280 Confucius institutes in 87 countries and regions, teaching Chinese and introducing Chinese culture to foreigners. Although in each year nearly 5,000 Chinese teachers are sent from the Confucius institutes to over 100 countries, it is still a far cry from enough.
Therefore, the Headquarter of the Confucius Institutes has decided to set up a scholarship this year for training the foreign receivers who want to devote themselves to Chinese teaching. Ms. Liu Yandong, State Councilor of China and Chairwoman of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarter said at the opening ceremony of the school that this was an important move to promote exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries. She held that the burgeoning "Chinese fever" demonstrated the world’s attention to China's development in the future. All parties concerned have reached a common understanding on the necessity of training more Chinese language teachers overseas.
It is reported that students from more than 50 countries had applied for the scholarship and totally 1,021 of them won the fund since the inception of this program in June this year. They have achieved high level of Chinese proficiency and Chinese cultural knowledge. According to the plan, they will take the job of teaching Chinese in their own countries for more than five years after their graduation. To ensure the quality of teaching, 50 well-known Chinese universities have undertaken the teaching task.
The Headquarter of Confucius Institutes has drawn up a special training plan in line with the characteristics of the foreign students. The focus is to cultivate their capability of Chinese teaching and intercultural communication. Wang Lujiang, Director of the school council in Beijing Language and Culture University said "For the Asian students who are better in Chinese reading, we put emphasis on their oral training; for the European and American students who are bold to speak out but weak in reading, we give them more classes on Chinese characters. Meanwhile, the school pays more attention to their practical teaching skills and will arrange internship for them to teach in the Chinese language schools home and abroad."