Mandarin teachers get ready for Saudi Arabia

A total of 175 Chinese language teachers for primary and middle schools will begin their careers in Saudi Arabia in mid August.

They will become the first batch of Mandarin teachers to serve in Saudi Arabia, honoring an agreement on enhancing cooperation in Chinese language education that the two countries made last year.

They completed pre-service training at Tianjin Normal University from July 29 to Friday.

The training was organized by the university, the Saudi Education Ministry and the Chinese Ministry of Education's Center for Language Education and Cooperation.

The website of Cankao Xiaoxi, a newspaper affiliated with Xinhua News Agency, said Saudi Arabia will open Chinese language classes in middle schools.

China will send 800 Chinese language teachers to Saudi Arabia, according to another website, jiaohanyu.com, which offers details of the latest Chinese language teaching programs and job opportunities.

Yaqin Talal A. Jebreen, a human resources specialist at Tatweer Co from Saudi Arabia, the chief representative in organizing the training, thanked the center and the university for organizing it.

"The successful completion of the pre-service training for the first batch of Chinese teachers who are about to go to Saudi Arabia is a reflection of the solid partnership and fruitful cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China," she said.

"And I believe these teachers' fulfillment of the jobs will set a brand-new beginning for China-Saudi Arabia educational cooperation."

Liu Xiaoting, a representative who spoke for the 175 teachers, said, "We are grateful for such a valuable training opportunity and ambitious to contribute to Chinese language education in Saudi Arabia soon."

The year marks the 60th anniversary of Tianjin Normal University's international Chinese education initiatives, along with the 20th anniversary of its international Chinese teacher volunteer service.

Qu Kai, the university's Party secretary, said its efforts have yielded more than 60,000 international students who are proficient in Chinese language and culture and it will continue to boost China-Saudi Arabia international Chinese education cooperation, providing students and teachers with better Chinese training services.