Monday 04 June 2018

Celebrating and shining the spotlight on China’s outstanding, innovative, inspirational and dedicated non-native speaking teachers of English, the British Council is delighted to announce the first winner of the ‘English is GREAT teacher Award’. 

‘English is GREAT’ is a UK government initiative in China for 2018 being driven by the British Council which aims to enhance levels of spoken English proficiency, empowering Chinese people with the confidence to succeed on the global stage through a powerful command of spoken English communication skills. 

Since the announcement of the English is GREAT campaign during the UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to China on 31st January 2018, a series of activities have been held which have engaged an audience of over 32.92 million people across the whole of China and gained the support of our English is GREAT campaign Ambassadors, AngelaBaby and Jessie J. 

The English is GREAT Teacher Award, which has been sponsored by U-Young and International House London was launched on 23 April 2018 and is the flagship activity for the whole campaign. 

There are over 300 million English language learners in China and many outstanding teachers of English. This year, the British Council has embarked on a China-wide digital campaign to find these outstanding world-class teachers and celebrate the role and positive impact that they have on the futures of their students. The response to the campaign so far has been emphatic with entries submitted from all corners of the country. 

To enter the English is GREAT Teacher Award we asked all applicants to provide a short video illustrating their teaching methods and showcasing a classroom activity that would bring these to life.

As determined by our panel of judges, the winner of the first English is GREAT Teacher Award for May 2018 was Ms. HU Conghui from Guangdong Province. 

Kiran Patel, Director Strategic Communications and Corporate Relations, British Council China said:

“On behalf of the British Council and the English is GREAT campaign, I am delighted to offer my congratulations to Ms. HU Conghui on winning the English is GREAT Teacher Award for May. Teaching English as a non-native speaker is an invaluable skill and one which requires true dedication and genuine enthusiasm for teaching as well as a deep understanding of the English Language. Ms. Hu’s passion for teaching shone brightly throughout her submission and in a highly competitive field of outstanding teachers, this stood her out as a very worthy and inspiring winner.”

The judging panel which comprised of leading experts from the British Council’s English in Education Systems (EES) team offered their analysis of Ms. HU and her performance: 

“Ms. HU did a terrific job of making the activity as practical and scalable as possible. It was easy to set up in a classroom environment and adaptable to a variety of different language points with different ages of student, from children to adults and at varied levels of spoken English proficiency.  It enabled students with the freedom to use a wider range of language and encouraged high levels of spoken interaction. It therefore not only met but exceeded our assessment criteria and was a worthy winner of May’s English is GREAT Teacher Award.” 

Ms. HU Conghui as winner will receive a cash prize of 3000 RMB, a certificate from English is GREAT to commemorate her achievement and the chance to enter the grand finale in December, whereby along with the other monthly winners throughout the year, she will have the opportunity to win a 4-week study trip to the UK courtesy of our sponsors International House London.  

This is also an opportunity to congratulate the Runners-up this month, who all demonstrated high levels of excellence in teaching English through the videos that they submitted. 

The English is GREAT Teacher Award will continue to run each month and the opportunity is still open to all Chinese non-native speakers of English. Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to enter and the next round of nominations will close on the 24 June. 

To provide you with up to date information about the English is GREAT campaign and related events throughout 2018-19, we have teamed up with our English Media Partners, China Daily and 21st Century English. Please visit our campaign site for the latest English is GREAT updates and information regarding how you can nominate yourself to enter the English is GREAT Teacher Award. 

Notes to Editor

‘English is GREAT’ Teacher Award Partners

About U-Young

Founded in 2000 in Beijing, UYoung Culture & Media (Uyoung) is a leading Chinese kids & family media and entertainment company dedicated to providing top quality content, consumer products and associated services create and spread joyfulness to children. Currently UYoung and its subsidiaries altogether have more than 300 employees across 4 offices in China and Los Angeles. Uyoung has built a healthy and sustainable ecosystem, that combines children’s program production with licensing and brand management. UYoung will be rooted in China, facing a global audience, and keep providing first class entertainment and education content to children in China and around the world.

About International House London

Founded by John and Brita Haycraft in 1953, International House London is a non-profit-making educational trust committed to raising the standard of English language teaching and training worldwide. We are also the founding member of the International House World Organisation that consists of over 150 affiliated schools in over 50 countries.

International House London is widely regarded as a world leader in language teaching, executive and business training, teacher training and trainer training. We are an educational trust dedicated to raising language teaching and teacher training standards worldwide. We teach English as well as other Modern Languages and we train language teachers. As a result, our teaching teams are well known for being most able, creative and professional. All our teachers are qualified to teach English as a foreign language, and in addition have a wide range of relevant teaching experience. We are accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English, and we are a founder member of EAQUALS. We also are the biggest IELTS centre in UK. 

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We work with over 100 countries in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Last year we reached over 65 million people directly and 731 million people overall including online, broadcasts and publications. We make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust. Founded in 1934 we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. We receive 15 per cent core funding grant from the UK government.

We operate as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Beijing and Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing. Our Exams work and English Centres across China operate as Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises.