China Daily 21st Century signs knowledge partnership agreement with TESOL International Association

Dr Ester J. de Jong, president of TESOL International Association, gave a keynote speech in Changzhou on July 22.

China Daily 21st Century had already cooperated with TESOL for years through their support partnerships for the annual 21st Century National ELT Conference and the China Daily "21st Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition.

At the 2017 21st Century National ELT Conference on July 22 in Chang Zhou, Dr Ester J. de Jong, president of TESOL International Association, was also invited to deliver a keynote speech. In her speech titled Teaching English for Tomorrow: Our roles as English Language Teachers, Dr de Jong expressed the opportunities and challenges ELT faces worldwide, in the context of migration, technology and the diversity of where and whom we teach. These trends raise key questions for the ELT field: what do we teach when we teach 'English' and how do we prepare quality English teachers. She emphasized that being a good English teacher is more than a matter of English proficiency, whether learned as a home language or learned as an additional language. English language teaching is a profession with high standards of what good teachers need to know and be able to do. This professional expertise must accompany mere proficiency as we strive for excellence in English language teaching.

After the speech, Christopher Powers, executive director of TESOL, and Dr Sarah Sahr, director for professional learning and research at TESOL, gave a brief introduction of TESOL and its teacher training programs. They also invited English teachers to attend the TESOL Convention to be held from March 27-30 in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. TESOL agreed to collaborate with China Daily 21st Century, and to support Chinese teachers of English with their professional development by sharing its vast resources.

Representatives from TESOL were invited to pay a visit to China Daily's headquarters in Beijing on July 24. Both organizations are determined to work together to bring more benefits to thousands of English teachers in China in 2018 and the years to come.

Representatives of TESOL were invited to pay a visit to China Daily 21st Century English Education Media