【环球时报】Marking down the schools

国际汉语教师资格培训是国家汉办在华东师范大学设立的两项国家级重点项目之一。孔子学院是由中国政府出资赞助，旨在世界范围内弘扬中国文化、推广汉语语言的非盈利机构。截止2013年底，已有120个国家开设了400多所孔子学院，注册学员超过850，000名。

In theory the graduates of these two specific Confucius Institute programs are the only people qualified to teach at the institutes throughout the world. In recent years it has been producing 200 or so native Chinese teachers annually and, according to training center staff member Han Kai, “the number is on the rise.”

理论上说，只有两所学校颁发的国际汉语教师资格是被汉办及孔子学院所认可的。“近年来，每年都有超过200名学员通过学习实践成长为合格的对外汉语教师。“这个数字还在不断的攀升”培训中心负责人说。

These would-be teachers, most in their thirties  or forties, pay 7,800 yuan ($1,286.2) for the course and diploma exam. They take 130 classes starting with “Teaching Basics” which focuses on contemporary Chinese grammar before moving to cover language teaching theories and phonetics, vocabulary, characters and grammar.

参加培训的学员多为三十至四十多岁的在职人员。学费及考试费共计人民币7，800元（美金1，,86.2元）。130个课时，课程内容由浅入深，涵盖现代汉语的教学理论，语音、词汇、汉子及语法。

With these qualifications teachers can apply for positions in places like Shanghai’s Foreign Wives’ Chinese Salon, a charity classroom the university established for a foreign wives’ club in Lujiazui in 2009. Graduates can undertake internships at the salon’s weekly classes and gain practical experience.

学校于2009年在上海的陆家嘴开办有洋太太俱乐部，学员在考取资格证后可申请此俱乐部的工作岗位。许多毕业生已在此实习并获得教学经验。

One of the current interns is Jiang Ying, a former investment banker who quit her job to become involved in something she “really liked”. After completing the TCSOL course and interning at the Foreign Wives’ Chinese Salon for six months, Jiang Ying became a Chinese teacher at the International Office of the Shanghai University of Engineering Science last year.

蒋莹，是华狮汉韵诸多学员中的一位。曾就职于投资银行的她，毅然决然地辞去那份光彩照人的工作，全身心的投入到这份她“真心喜欢”的事业中来。在完成了国际汉语教师资格培训的课程后，顺利地获得了在洋太太汉语沙龙实习六个月的机会。现在的她，则在上海工程技术大学国际部担任汉语老师。

Many of the most promising TCSOL students, like Jiang Ying, find employment in the international colleges of local universities (often through the recommendations of the university’s training center) and teach overseas undergraduates studying for degrees or on exchange – most of their students are from Korea. They receive about 60 – 70 yuan for a 45-minute session. Most of the others work at international schools and teach children from American, European, and Singaporean families. They are likely to get 200 – 300 yuan an hour.

许多和蒋莹一样的学生在取得国际汉语教师资格证后，通过学校的推荐，都在各高校国际交流学院或留学生部找到了适合自己的岗位。而他们的课时费大概在每节课（45分钟）60至70元左右。还有一些学生则就职于各个国际学校，教授来自欧美和新加坡等国的青少年或儿童。他们的课时费大概在200至300元左右。

Another TCSOL graduate Huang Qiong now teaches several students and likes to integrate interactive activities into the classes – students are asked to make their own audio and video presentations in Chinese and then watch and critique them together. She believes the traditional form or learning by rote works well. “From my early days teaching I realized that learning a language is a process of repetition,”

另一位从华狮汉韵走出来的学员——黄琼，则在课堂上与学生形成了良好的互动。学生自己动手制作汉语演讲的视频和音频，然后和大家一起分享点评。她相信传统的教学模式也可以在教学实践中扮演好重要角色。“从我早年的教学经验来看，我认识语言的习得就是一个重复再重复的过程。”