Ms. Gao’s presentation addressed the importance of effective teacher trainings and orientations, and she called upon her experience as a participant in the TCLP Orientations and workshops to deliver eight key points about effective teacher training methods. She discussed the fact that program training should be diverse, with different philosophies and teaching methods incorporated into the material, and how program training should include information about school or classroom culture in addition to pedagogy. The attendees were eager to learn about TCLP and how the program helps to develop English teachers’ skills, and Ms. Gao described how her teaching style had changed as a result of her program participation. She spoke about how the evaluation component of the orientation serves a dual purpose of helping teachers review the information they learned, as well as giving the training organizers a clearer picture of how methods and sessions can be improved or adjusted in the future.
Over 800 teachers attended this conference, the majority of them middle and high school teachers, but school administrators and department officials were also in attendance. Ms. Gao’s presentation was well-attended by over 40 teachers, officials in provincial education departments, and school administrators. She shared TCLP video highlights and a TCLP introduction video to help describe the program and what it does to help American students and Chinese teachers. Ms. Gao’s participation in TCLP gave her the ability to plant the seeds of new ideas for effective teacher training orientations and programs in China.