On the afternoon of December 3rd, 2019, Philippine Department of Education held a ceremony to launch its joint master education program of training Chinese language teachers with the Confucius Institute Headquarters. Present at the event were Tian Shanting, Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, Dr. Leonor Briones, Minister of the Philippine Department of Education, Diosdado M. San Antonia, Deputy Minister, Dr. Joesph Angeles, President of the Philippine Angeles University Foundation (AUF), Dr. Zhang Shifang, Supervisor of the Chinese language program, and the Chinese and Philippine directors of the Confucius Institute at AUF. The launching ceremony was hosted by Joyce Andaya, Director of the Bureau of Secondary Education of the Philippine Department of Education.
Previously, the Confucius Institute Headquarters and the Philippine Department of Education signed an agreement on a master education program for jointly training localized Chinese language teachers. According to the agreement, both parties shall work together in training 300 Philippine Chinese language teachers for the country’s public high schools. The trainees, to be selected by the Philippine Department of Education from Chinese language teachers currently employed in public high schools, shall receive a master’s degree in Chinese language education after two years’ study under this program. The courses shall focus on Chinese language proficiency, Chinese language teaching and assessments of Chinese language courses. The trainees shall be sent to Fujian Normal University in China for a half-year immersive learning. After their completion of the program, they shall return to their schools to teach Chinese.
In her speech, Leonor Briones pointed out that with the in-depth development of friendly relations between China and the Philippines, more and more Filipino young people have realized the importance of learning Chinese. At present, Philippine schools, especially public high schools are facing a shortage of Chinese language teachers. The upcoming program is of great significance and will produce a far-reaching impact on improving Chinese language teachers in the Philippines.
Tian Shanting, expressed his belief that this training program will fundamentally solve this bottleneck problem that impedes Chinese language teaching in the Philippines, meet the needs of public schools for specialized local Chinese language teachers, and further promote Chinese language teaching in public high schools in the Philippines. It will provide an easy access for the Philippine young people to the Chinese language and culture.
Since 2011, Chinese has been officially included as an option among foreign language courses in Philippine public high schools, indicating that the Chinese language course has been formally integrated in the country’s elementary education system. 93 public high schools in 11 regions in the Philippines offer the Chinese language course, and about 11,000 middles school students are learning Chinese. The Confucius Institute Headquarters has supported the training for local Chinese teachers in the Philippines. In 2014, it funded a Chinese language program at AUF, under which 81 undergraduates were trained as Chinese language teachers, among whom the first batch have all been employed at public high schools in the Philippines. (cited and source from Confucius Institute Headquarters)