Are you interested in teaching abroad after graduation? If so, consider the China Education Initiative (CEI). CEI has been actively recruiting here at Middlebury this semester and their deadline is approaching! So log onto MOJO and send in your application before December 1, 2009. Read on for more CEI’s job posting on MOJO
CEI is an innovative non-profit organization, supported by the Ford Foundation, that addresses educational inequality in low-income, indigenous minority communities in rural parts of China that have not, as yet, seen the rapid economic growth that the coastal areas have experienced in the past two decades (request prospectus for more detailed information).
Working in partnership with:
• Princeton in Asia
• The Woodrow Wilson School’s China and the World Program (CWP)
• Tsinghua University & Peking University
• The Chinese Communist Youth League’s (CYL) ‘Graduate Student Volunteer Program’
CEI operates with the approval of the Chinese central government and is the first and only volunteer organization in China to pair graduates from top universities in the US and China in a long-term cross-cultural service initiative.
CEI Teaching Fellowship Description:
CEI is offering a unique opportunity for promising future leaders to serve yearlong teaching fellows in low-income minority communities in rural China. Airfare, travel, accommodations, health insurance, and a modest living stipend is covered by the program. Our cross-cultural learning program begins with our two-month summer training institute in Beijing led by teaching professionals from Princeton’s Teacher Training Program, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Tsinghua, and PKU corps members will:
- Attend expert lectures and workshops on multi-cultural education and pedagogy
- Participate in structured Socratic conversations supporting exploration of their cultural similarities and differences
- Engage with peers and education experts in designing learning challenges related to language family, and environment
- Learn how to evaluate student backgrounds through diagnostic testing based on national standards
- Receive instruction in developing lessons that relate course content to students’ lives through discussion, presentations, and collaborative activities
- Undergo training in effective classroom management and classroom-based assessment
Through attending this training corps members will be challenged to better understand their backgrounds through guided self- examination of their own cultures and identities. By supporting awareness of cross-cultural dynamics, the institute uniquely prepares volunteers to cooperate effectively and to empathize with students of diverse ethnicity & socio-economic background while also training its members to be effective teachers.
CEI then places corps members in 4 person teaching-teams (two Chinese and two American), urging them to work together, across cultural lines, to help students excel. Through this approach we aim to foster a corps of volunteers and a cohort of future leaders who recognize their shared humanity, and thus see themselves not only as belonging to their local communities, but also as global citizens. We believe that this awareness is of paramount importance in educating minority groups whose interests are frequently marginalized. Our service efforts alone, however, cannot resolve the systemic issues that arise as China universalizes nine-year compulsory education. We aim to foster a group of young thinkers committed to the cause of Chinese development on the world stage. By working with their peers from Chinese universities in addressing a pressing educational issues on the mainland, these volunteers will be afforded a unique vantage point on country’s political realities.
China needs a body of leaders profoundly committed to the cause of education reform. By recruiting the most promising students from Chinese and American universities to work together in serving the most indigent school districts in China, in the long- term CEI aims to create a constituency that can work for the cause of equal education at the highest reaches of government, industry, and academia.
Compensation & Benefits:
A CEI Teaching Fellowship provides:
- Round-trip airfare & transportation to and from your assigned teaching location.
- Accommodation both during the summer training & academic year
- Visa sponsorship & required documentation
- A 6-week long Summer Institute Training program
- Group medical insurance for all fellows in need of coverage, including emergency medical evacuation coverage.
- Language and cultural grants (awarded on a merit basis).
- Assistance in student loan deferments in the form of letters issued to student loan agencies.
- A $500/mth stipend to cover food & additional living expenses
Qualifications:
CEI applicants are generally college seniors or recent graduates, but anyone who meets the prerequisites is welcome to apply. Please remember this is a fellowship program. Though a stipend and housing will be provided, a position with CEI generally is not a money-making venture. The emphasis of a CEI fellowship is service, cultural-cultural collaborative learning.
Our volunteer corps members are recruited from diverse academic and professional backgrounds in order to broaden the range of perspectives they can bring to the classroom.
The basic prerequisite for placement is a bachelor’s degree. In addition:
- TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) experience is required prior to departure for all English teaching positions. At least 20 hours of TEFL preparation through a short course (such as one PiA or CEI offers).
- Teaching positions require fluent English speaking ability.
- Chinese language ability, while a strong asset, is not a prerequisite.
- Qualities we value & seek in our teachers include:
- Intellectual & demonstrated commitment to non-profit education work
- Strong critical thinking skills
- Proven organization skills
- Flexibility & preparedness for the rigors and challenges of living in poverty environments
- Respect for the frustrations and rewards of cross-cultural living and learning
- Self-starter initiative & the ability to influence and motivate others
- Prior commitment to China, either through significant service or academic initiatives or demonstrable genuine curiosity and interest
How to apply:
Log on to MOJO and submit a:
• Resume
• Unofficial course transcript
• Supplemental online application at www.chinaedcationinitiative.org
To apply click you will first need to register an account and then fill out our online application. Please be aware, US application deadlines are as follows:
Regular Admissions Deadline Dec 1
December 1: General Admissions Deadline for submission of application materials.
Mid/Late December: Selected applicants are notified of interview date and time.
January 19-31: Interviews for selected applicants held over skype (video-conference call)
Mid March: CEI notifies applicants of first-round selection results. Upon notification, candidates must make a commitment within 7 days to accept the position and to follow through on related commitments. If first choice candidates cannot commit, then alternates are contacted.
Late March-Early April: Finalization of positions.
April 24-26: TEFL certification course offered at Princeton University.
July 21st – Summer Training Institute begins in Beijing.
September: Fellows leave for their posted locations.