Volunteer Chinese Teacher Program

• Introduction

1. Request for Volunteer Chinese Teacher Program

Hanban is willing to establish cooperative relationships with education departments, educational institutions, organizations, and associations of Chinese language teachers from various other countries to provide volunteer Chinese teaching services.

When there is a need for such volunteers, please contact Hanban, Education/Culture Section of Embassies (Consulate) of PRC, or related overseas organizations. The Application Form of Volunteer Chinese Teachers (see Appendix 1) should be filled in and submitted.

Since the procedure of selection, training, and dispatch of volunteers usually takes three to six months to complete, please submit your request for volunteers in advance.

2. Application Procedure

Hanban releases recruitment information based on overseas requests for volunteers, and entrusts the Departments of Education of provinces (municipalities/autonomous regions), or universities and colleges to organize the recruitment. All qualified candidates shall register with the Volunteer Program Application System (http://zhiyuanzhe.chinese.cn), and submit the application online. The PDF copy of the application should be downloaded and submitted to relevant institutes which will organize the initial selection in accordance with the requirements for volunteers and then report the results to Hanban. Hanban will organize the final selection examination and training program before determining the selection.

3. Application Requirements for Volunteer Chinese Teachers

Volunteer Chinese teachers are primarily recruited and selected from graduates of the current year with a Bachelor’s degree or above, as well as postgraduate students and professional teachers. Students majoring in International Chinese Education are preferred. Under the same conditions, priority will be given to those who have teaching experience and a good knowledge of the language of the destination country, and those who have been student leaders.

Basic Requirements for Volunteer Chinese Teacher:

1. The volunteer shall be committed to his country and to his work, be passionate about promoting the Chinese language to other countries, have strong senses of organization and team spirit, and shall be conscientious and devoted in work, decent and well-behaved with no criminal negligence record;

2. The volunteer shall be physically and mentally healthy, and capable of adapting to cross-cultural backgrounds;

3. The volunteer shall have a good knowledge of the Chinese language and culture, and the current situation of China as well as teaching theories, and shall be capable of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, and communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds in a foreign language. Those with talents related to Chinese culture are much desired;

4. The volunteer shall have both Chinese Putonghua proficiency and English proficiency, and the Mandarin test result shall be above Band Two, and national college English test result above Band Four.

5. The volunteer shall be at the age of 22 to 50. The age limit can be broadened if necessary.

6. Apart from the above-mentioned requirements, The volunteer shall meet other requirements varying from country to country (for details see the recruitment information); under the same conditions, candidates recommended by the Chinese partners of the Confucius Institute shall enjoy the priority.

7. Selection Examination

The selection examination for volunteer Chinese teachers includes interviews in terms of comprehensive abilities (teaching ability, adaptability to various situations and talent related to Chinese culture), foreign language proficiency test, and psychological test.

5. Training

Candidates who have passed the selection examination will attend the pre-departure training courses organized by Hanban. It will take 300 to 600 hours to complete the training, centering on the spirit of and requirements for volunteer Chinese teachers, Chinese teaching skills and classroom management, application of Chinese textbooks and Internet resources, teaching demonstration and practice, current situation in China, Chinese culture, Chinese talents, competence development, international education, intercultural communication, nation-based instruction and nation-based language instruction etc. Hanban will determine the final candidates according to their training performances and their scores achieved in the final exam of the training.

6. Payment and Preferential Policies

Volunteers enjoy nation-based living allowance of 800 or 1,000 dollars per month, and one-time relocation allowance of 1,000 dollars. Hanban disburses the following expenses through state budget: expenses occurred during pre-departure training, processing formalities for going abroad, relocation payments, living allowance, international round-trip airfare, and personal accident insurance. Besides, volunteers who will work successively for two terms in difficult places shall enjoy special subsidies for difficult places from the second term.

Volunteers enjoy preferential policies according to the “Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the Termination of the Voluntary Service of College Graduates as Chinese Teachers Abroad (No. 3 [2012] Office of Teaching )”. Find more details in: http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s3265/201205/xxgk_135248.html