Language Teachers Professional Development 2015

In 2015, a total of 161 mainland teachers received professional training organized by St. Paul’s Innovation Centre for Exchange (SPICE). They came in 4 groups, lasting from 29 June to 25 July, 2015. Group 1 was 29 Chinese language teachers from HK Jockey Club Deyang No. 5 Secondary School, Sichuan. Several seminars had been arranged for them in the University of Hong Kong by staff from HKU. Group 2 was a group of 32 English teachers from Foshan, Guangdong. Group 3 and 4 were 100 English teachers from Shaoguan, Guangdong, being divided into 2 groups. The programme was conducted by enthusiastic language tutors from Canada who served as volunteers. Participating teachers were deeply impressed. Shaoguan teachers reported that when they returned, they held open demonstration to English teachers in different provinces, to over 30 cities and many rural counties. Though about 230 Shaoguan teachers had been trained by SPICE so far, the programme had actually been extended to thousands of English teachers in China. That makes the programme really meaningful.