BTC UK Teaching Experts Entered the Classroom of BTC Partner Schools

Beijing Broaden & Toptrans Communication Center (BTC) has been committed to promoting English proficiency level and international communication for students from primary and secondary schools. Recruiting and managing native ESLteachers for schools and colleges are one of the center’s main scopes. BTC has a professional education team of foreign experts. English teaching experts from the UK, the United States and Canada, etc, come to BTC's partner schools from time to time, attending classes to conduct researches and discussions, so as to better promote our foreign English teacher program at schools. On October 30, BTC Director Wang Peng, foreign experts Thom Kiddle and Susi Pearson, and BTC management team visited some of BTC’s partner schools in Beijing for research communication.

ThomKiddle is an expert of Beijing Broaden & Toptrans Communication Center (BTC). He has a Master’s degree in Language Testing from Lancaster University and the CambridgeDELTA. Previously, he was head of academic research and educational technologyat the Chilean British University in Santiago, and worked in Portugal, the UK, Australia and Thailand in language teaching, teacher training and language assessment. He has published in Applied Linguistics, Language Assessment Quarterly and System journals; in 2019, two chapters in Routledge Handbooks of Language Teacher Education; and has two forthcoming publications on Quality Assurance and Digital Language Teaching Materials in 2023. Thom was also aplenary speaker at IATEFL 2021.

Susi Pearson is an expert of Beijing Broaden & Top-Trans Communication Center(BTC). She has been involved in teaching and teacher training for over 25 years, working for extended periods in Portugal, Brazil and Poland. She is CELTA and DELTA qualified and holds a MA in Professional Development for Language Education, with a British Council Commendation for Impact on ELT for her dissertation on Writing Post-CELTA Self-access Materials. She is also a regular presenter at IATEFL.

On the morning of October 30, BTC expert group, including Director Wang Peng, foreign experts Thom Kiddle and Susi Pearson, and teacher Wang, came to Beijing Taiping Road Primary School. The school was founded in 1954, has always adhered to an overall goal of "people-oriented, harmoniouseducation", and in 1997 became the first "Hand in Hand • GlobalVillage" school in China. Under the guidance of Vice Principal Zhang, the BTC expert visiting team attended the English class of Class 7, Grade 3, and listened to the young teacher Yang Yaxuan giving the students a lesson with topic of My Pets. In class, Miss Yang started with “I have a...; It’s …; Ithas…; It can… “The students actively participated in discussions andactivities, and made presentations in groups with using the sentence patterns applied in this lesson to introduce My Pets.

After the English class, under theleadership of the Vice Principal Zhang, who is in charge of teaching, the teachers of English teaching group and the BTC expert group had a communication on English teaching, the current situation of English learning for primary school students, the education conception of China and Britain, and the differences between Chinese and British classrooms, and discussed the future cooperationopportunities. Principal Zhao from the school took time out of her busy schedule to attend the meeting and asked questions about how the UK educational entrance system affects subject focuses at school. Expert Thom warmly answered the question. The interaction between the two sides promoted the mutual understanding between Chinese and western education.

After the meeting, the Vice Principal Zhang showed the BTC team around campus. In the music room, art room and calligraphy room, everyone was amazed by the versatile style and all-round development quality of the students from Beijing Taiping Road Primary School.