Thank you very much for your interest in the immersion courses in China which have been run by the British Council.

The British Council has run immersion courses in China for UK secondary schools since 2001.  Over the past year the British Council has been reviewing the portfolio of work that we deliver with schools and have come to the conclusion that while the immersion courses represent tremendous value for individual learners, their wider reach and impact is more limited.  In view of the amount of administrative support that is required to deliver the courses both in the UK and in China we have decided that we will not be running an immersion course in China for English secondary schools in 2010.  

I appreciate that this may be disappointing news, however we would like to reassure you that there will continue to be a range of opportunities through the British Council to support the teaching of Chinese and school partnerships with China.  These include:

Chinese Language Assistants (CLAs) can work in a wide range of ways, depending on the current provision of Mandarin in your school.  They are able to:

			work with Chinese teachers in the classroom if Chinese is already formally taught at your school;
			work on their own with groups of pupils if they are introducing Mandarin Chinese to your school;
			work across the curriculum, contributing a Chinese perspective to other subjects like art and design, technology, geography and history etc, or
			run lunchtime Chinese clubs where the focus is mainly on Chinese culture.

They can also help set up links with schools in China and help contribute to international projects. All CLAs are qualified teachers in China and return to their Chinese schools at the end of the year.

More information, including how much it costs to employ a CLA and how they can be shared between up to 3 schools, can be found here

The deadline for applying for a CLA in academic year 2010-11 is 5 March 2010.

Mandarin Chinese Speaking Competition: this competition, supported by the HSBC Global Education Programme, supports and promotes the teaching of Mandarin as a modern foreign language in schools.  Open to UK secondary school students who are non-native speaking learners, schools can enter students either individually or in groups.  The regional heats for the 2010 competition have already taken place, but information about the 2011 competition will go on the event webpage in September.

China Activity Grants: this opportunity, supported by the HSBC Global Education Programme, is designed to help schools (primary, secondary and SEN), sixth form colleges and FE colleges across the UK to arrange events or activities that will help their students learn more about China or the Mandarin Chinese language.  Schools and colleges can apply for grants of up to £750.  Full information is on our website and applications can be submitted from 1 February to 1 March 2010.

Connecting Classrooms: Connecting Classrooms is a global programme that creates partnerships between clusters of schools in the UK and others around the world. These partnerships bring an international dimension to young people’s learning, to improve their knowledge and understanding of other cultures and prepare them for life and work as global citizens.  Recruitment is currently underway for partnerships with China, and the deadline for applications is 29 January 2010.  Please click here for more information.

The Connecting Classrooms Online Community enables teachers around the world to network with one another, seek and share advice, and join or form clusters of schools that want to work together on international projects. You can use the community to discuss curriculum development and potential links with other teachers globally, and to access guidance from our support staff about Connecting Classrooms and how it could work best for your school.  The online community is freely accessible to teachers in schools that are not participating in funded Connecting Classrooms partnerships, as well as those that are. To visit the website please click here

School partnerships: if you have a partner school in China, you can apply for DCSF funding to make an initial visit to establish the partnership, or to undertake a collaborative project with them.  An excellent way to enrich the international dimension in the curriculum, the grant can be used for travel, accommodation and related project costs as well as electronic links.  For more information, please click here.  If you do not have a school partnership with China but would like one, do call us (0207 389 4431) and we'll be very happy to talk to you about ways to find a partner.

Global Gateway provides a wealth of support to schools in bringing an international dimension to education, including details of the contacts in your area who are able to help with practical resources for teaching, inset days, CPD, support for school linking and information on other international links in the local area.  To visit the Global Gteway site please click here.

eLanguages is a free, safe and easy way to connect with teachers from around the world and work in partnership to develop lively, fun curriculum based projects.  With up to 100MB of space for each project, you can share movies, podcasts, photos, galleries, web links, polls, forums, documents, presentations and more. These can be created or sourced by you and your students.  For more information and to register, please click here