English Language Fellow Rich Hawkins was extended an amazing opportunity to travel to China to provide teacher training sessions at Qufu Normal University, Beijing Normal University, and the Beijing American Center. While in China, Hawkins also had the chance to visit Urumqi, the capital of China’s most westerly province, Xinjiang.
During his time in Urumqi, Hawkins imparted an invaluable amount of knowledge to teachers and students throughout the city. He met with several visiting teachers from Beijing to discuss a curriculum research project, observed grammar and intensive reading classes at a local school and talked at length with the teachers there. He also visited Xinjiang Normal University to lecture a class of 60 undergraduate students preparing to become English teachers.
Hawkins’ brief but impactful visit to Urumqi left a lasting impression on the individuals he interacted with during his time in the city. “We’ve never had a teacher teach pronunciation like that before,” said one student at the conclusion of Hawkins’ lecture at the university. Eric Feng, the EFL teacher at Xinjiang Normal University, also noted “I enjoyed Eric’s talk with my students this evening. He is just the right kind of teacher trainer.”