Yong Zhao, University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education

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EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University took another important step toward addressing the nation’s rising demand for Chinese-related education by establishing one of the first U.S. institutes dedicated to preparing Chinese teachers.

MSU, through its award-winning Confucius Institute, already helps thousands of students learn Chinese language and culture. The new Teacher Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language will complement those efforts and build on MSU’s renowned teacher education programs to support the emerging needs of Chinese language educators around the world.

Chinese Language Council International, or Hanban, will provide more than $1 million to help support the institute for at least five years. MSU leaders celebrated the signing of the agreement during a dinner for Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong Thursday in Washington, D.C.

“This makes MSU a very central place for Chinese teacher education,” said Yong Zhao, who will serve as executive director. Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of educational psychology and educational technology.

Many U.S. schools have trouble finding ways to expose students to Chinese language and culture as China continues to gain global influence. There are more than 200 million Chinese students who study English, Zhao said, compared to less than 4 percent of American students who study the Mandarin Chinese language.

“The first bottleneck is the severe lack of high-quality, certified teachers for public schools,” Zhao said. “We can’t change that unless we have strong programs that can prepare teachers quickly. We have to look for more innovative ways to solve that problem, and this institute will develop those solutions.”

The MSU College of Education recently created a post-B.A. program that recruits and provides mostly native Chinese educators with a two-year track for meeting Michigan’s teacher certification requirements and, just as importantly, making a smooth transition into American school culture.

The new institute will expand on existing certification and degree programs by providing training for Chinese teachers who are already on the job, conducting research on issues specific to teaching Chinese as a foreign language, developing new teaching resources and consulting directly with school districts. The institute also is expected to collaborate with the Michigan Department of Education and various universities in China that prepare teachers who may work in America.

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.