Chen Jinyun Leads Professional Development in Nanjing
Chen Jinyun, a 2013 Chinese alum from Nanjing Foreign Language School Xianlin Campus, in Nanjing, China, received a CLP grant

to organize TESL professional development for ESL teachers at her home school. The project included five different workshops to promote teachers’ confidence in developing effective teaching skills and lesson plans and learning how to create a safe learning environment for students. She also organized a trip to another nearby school and an English teaching center to observe and discuss different teaching techniques. Finally, the teachers were invited to participate in an English book club (pictured) where Chen Jinyun modeled how to discuss and understand a novel so that the teachers will be able to lead their own English book club and feel comfortable analyzing the writer’s message and the meaning of a fictional text. The project allowed Ms. Chen to share fresh ideas from her experience of teaching in the U.S. and inspire teachers to reflect on existing teaching methods and change them to be more interactive and engaging. Workshops directly helped teachers in devising curricula, designing lesson plans, giving differentiated instruction, making SMART objectives and assessments, and learning more student-centered teaching methods and class management strategies. Moreover, research seminars provided more teachers with opportunities to learn different assessment methods.