Report 2005: Education Division
Amity Teachers Program
The 2004-2005 academic year saw 46 Amity teachers invited to teach at 27 schools in the following 10 provinces and autonomous regions of China: Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Anhui, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Gansu. Twenty-two of those teachers were placed in 11 colleges in the western provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Gansu. The teachers offered English, German and Japanese language instruction and came from a total of 11 different countries: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Philippines, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
"To be an Amity teacher means to be part of a community of generous, faithful, spirit-filled adventurers who are learning as much as teaching, everyone committed to loving the world and all God's people."
Testimony from an Amity teacher
Summer English Program
In the summer of 2005, 40 teachers from Canada, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the United States and the United Kingdom came to China for one month to teach English to Chinese middle school English teachers. Grouped into teams, the volunteers were sent to 9 teaching sites in the following 7 provinces: Anhui, Gansu, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang. Priority was given to underdeveloped locations in western China. Teachers focused on the improvement of students' listening and speaking skills and organized a variety of cultural exchange activities.
“I have been an English teacher for a total of 28 years. What I have seen and done here in China will encourage me to keep going for another 28 years!”
Testimony from an SEP volunteer
Young Adult Development Program
In 2005, Amity assigned two young volunteers from Denmark to Chuzhou Teachers College, Anhui Province to teach English under the supervision of an Amity teacher. Initially, the program was planned for only one term, but the volunteers did well and applied to extend the program to a whole year.
The goal of this program is to promote a better understanding of China among young people overseas. During the autumn term of 2005, the two young people taught oral English to Chinese students. In return, they learnt Chinese and took part in various activities organized to introduce them to Chinese culture and the local community.
I have been very happy to be a part of the volunteer program. There are many reasons for this, and generally I think that the whole idea of going abroad to a country very different from your own to get to know a new culture in depth, meet new people and challenge yourself is bound to be a good experience.
Christopher Hougaard (a volunteer )
Five-Year School Development Program
Five-year development programs support struggling institutions in their efforts to build stronger educational leadership capacity and a better educational environment. In 2005, Amity helped two teacher training colleges build English Resource Rooms. One college was Yongjiang Teachers College of Nationalities, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the other was Xinyu Teachers College, Jiangxi Province. The first of these, Yongjiang Teachers College, is one of two new teaching training schools in Guangxi where Amity placed teachers in 2005 academic year. This is the first time the English Department has been able to offer its 34 Chinese English teachers and 780 students an English Resource Room since the Department was set up in 1983.
Love for the School-less
This project is funded through contributions made by current and former Amity teachers. In the 2004-05 academic year, 30 rural primary school dropouts (orphans or children from poor single-parent families), were able to formally return to their classrooms in the central elementary school of Yuge Township, Lishui County of Jiangsu Province.
Schools for Children of Migrant Workers Program
In 2005, Amity sponsored a speech contest called “Sunshine Brightens Your Way" for the schools of migrant workers children in Nanjing. Over 300 pupils from 10 such schools participated in this contest.
During 2005, Amity provided 36,000 exercise books to migrant workers' children in 14 schools. For 13 schools, Amity also bought sports equipment and repaired the windows and doors of the classrooms.
College students from Nanjing University and Nanjing Agriculture University were mobilized through Amity to do volunteer teaching at 10 of the schools.
In October of 2005, Amity organized a week-long Leadership Training Seminar for the headmasters from 15 Schools for Migrant Workers’ Children. The seminar offered various lectures on educational and financial management.
Domestic Faculty Development Program
In the 2004-05 academic year, Amity offered scholarships to 118 Chinese teachers from 47 Amity-related teachers colleges and universities in the following poorer areas: Guizhou, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Hunan, Henan, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia. With Amity’s support, 118 teachers have been able to attend degree and non-degree graduate-level programs for one year at key universities in China. Out of those 118 Amity scholars, 89 were women and minority teachers. About half were from Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in southwestern China.
Overseas Faculty Development Program
In the 2004-05 academic year, Amity continued its sponsorship of 7 teachers from colleges in western areas who are working to finish their second year of MA in TESOL Degree at De La Salle University in the Philippines and Assumption University in Thailand. Sponsorship from this program helped two English Department deans from Guizhou Normal University go to the United States as six-month visiting scholars, and during the spring term, two doctoral candidates from Guizhou Normal University benefited from the opportunity to spend three months in Hong Kong preparing their dissertations.
Leadership Training Program
Amity sponsored a 7-day leadership training seminar held in Hong Kong in December, 2005. Twenty-two college presidents from Guizhou, Gansu and Inner Mongolia attended the seminar which included visits to six Hong Kong universities (Hong Kong Chinese University, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong Open University, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Baptist University and Hong Kong University) and a variety of lectures introducing modern concepts and skills for school administration.
Lecture Tour
At Amity's invitation, Prof. Yang Zhizhong from Nanjing University gave lectures on college English teaching and examination to students and staff in 5 teacher training colleges in Guizhou Province in June, 2005.
TEFL Conference
Amity was able to offer subsidies for 5 Amity teachers to attend the 2005 Asia TEFL Conference in Beijing, a notable increase from the past. (In 2004, two Amity Teachers received subsidies.)
Service Learning Program
Many Chinese students from urban areas have little awareness of the difficulties faced by their rural counterparts. Amity is seeking to encourage students to visit remote areas and help children in need through “service learning.” Invitations are also being extended to qualified young students in Hong Kong to take part in service learning programs in the mainland.
In 2005, Amity invited Dr. Vivienne W. M. Luk and Ms. Janice K. Y. Wong from Hong Kong Baptist University to give consultation and lectures on service learning at Nanjing Normal University. 18 Sociology majors from Nanjing Normal University were then sponsored by Amity to engage in service learning activities at four locations: Nanjing Social Welfare Institution, Xianlin New Village Community, Xianlin Primary School and the Attached Middle School of Nanjing Normal University.
Three students from Hong Kong Baptist University took part in a service learning program in Nanjing from December 26, 2005, to January 14, 2006. They worked at the Amity Home of Blessings and at the Mingguang Shuangyu School, which is a school for the children of migrant workers in Nanjing.
Classroom Rebuilding Program
In cooperation with the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association, Amity continued its support in 2005 for the rebuilding of 27 elementary schools in Guizhou Province.
Legal Aid Program
Amity believes that all people should enjoy the same basic rights. In support for the Nanjing Legal Aid Center, Amity gave a grant to help subsidize 50 legal cases involving issues such as rights for equal pay, equal opportunity, equal inheritance for women, the rights of the disabled, women’s labor rights, and children’s rights for education, proper nutrition and health.
In cooperation with Realdate Company, an entity that renders service to the elderly, Amity sponsored a training session on legal aid for managers of social welfare institutions to heighten their awareness of how to protect the rights of these people.
