In previous years, it hasn’t been possible to reach the minimum requirement of fifteen participants, despite interest from local teachers. But there is an ongoing expansion in Mandarin learning across the UK, and the Education Division has promoted the programme widely, and this year, there are enough teachers to form a British group for the very first trip of this kind organised for Mandarin teachers in the UK. The group members are looking forward to visiting Taiwan where they’ll participate in a programme organised by the National Taipei University of Education, from July 25 to August 5.

Furthermore the Education Division in the UK collaborated with Education Divisions in Europe and made arrangements for another three UK-based Mandarin teachers who were unable to join this British group at the scheduled time, to join groups for Mandarin teachers in France or Germany, who will be doing an equivalent advanced training programme in Taiwan at more suitable times.

The teachers who applied to participate in this programme come from a wide range of backgrounds. Several had been awarded a Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, and two teachers from Boston, USA, joined the British group. It’s all a great testament to international collaboration and to shared excitement about Chinese language teaching and learning.