Professional Development
Opportunities to Increase Teaching Capacity
Each year, Asia Society offers teachers and school leaders opportunities for learning and professional development to enhance their understanding and knowledge of Chinese language and culture so that they can better serve their community of learners, and continue to be models for others in the field.
We recognize that effective and innovative teaching methodologies are essential to a teacher’s professional development, but it is just as important for teachers to be up-to-date on their knowledge about various aspects of China, including both historical and modern developments.
Thus, we designed our professional development offerings with these goals in mind. These professional development opportunities include our annual Teachers, annual China Studies and the Teaching Fellows Program.
TEQ Instructional Videos for Chinese Language Teaching
In addition to providing practical training for in-class development, Asia Society sees the need to develop a new generation of leaders in the Chinese education field. Each year, Asia Society selects 5–10 Chinese teachers as a member of TEQ program. Under the one-on-one professional consultation of Dr. Weiling Wu, these selected teachers create, develop, and polish lesson plans. We then film the classroom of each selected teacher, and edit these to guide viewers to think and reflect on what they are observing in each video, to try and bridge the gap between instructional standards and classroom implementation. Part of Asia Society's professional development series for educators, these instructional videos for Chinese language teachers aim to share best practices in the field of Chinese language teaching.
Learn more about the TEQ Videos Series.
Teachers Institute
The Teachers Institute is a two-and-a-half-day professional development opportunity consisting of seminars, workshops, and school visits. Chinese language teachers from across Asia Society's partner schools convene to share resources and best practices in teaching methodologies and define the criteria for effective and innovative Chinese language teaching. Through this professional development, participants learn to identify successful teaching strategies and elements in their own and peer lessons. They also have the opportunity to design a series of individual lessons that exemplify the criteria for excellent teaching.
View videos and photos from previous Teachers Institutes.
Chinese Teacher Leadership Program
The Asia Society Chinese Teacher Leadership Program is an online, part-time certificate program. Drawing from research and theory, ACTFL Standards, and best practices, the two-year program prepares teachers for education leadership roles in Chinese pedagogy and within academic institutions. Guided by the program instructor, the participants build concepts and deepen their skills in instruction and assessment. Further, they learn how to coach fellow teachers to develop more effective teaching and improve student learning. This program will help its participants make a positive impact in their classrooms, academic institution, the greater community, and the Chinese pedagogy field.