The annual recruitment of State-sponsored teachers to teach Chinese overseas will begin today, an official with the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language said yesterday (Apr 6).

Ma Jianfei, deputy director of the office, said the recruitment notice will be posted on the office's official website and applicants can sign up for the selection exam, which will be held at the end of this month. Applications close on April 20.

Ma said the office will recruit 70 qualified teachers this year, who will be sent to more than 30 countries.

Minimum requirements include: a university degree; two years of teaching experience; Putonghua (Mandarin) level 2A or above; aged under 55; and a good command of the target country's language.

Applicants will need to pass three exams organized by the office: a foreign language test; a general test (such as expression, psychology, speech, personality and appearance); a professional skills test (applicants will be required to fulfil a teaching task).

Ma said the exams need to be strict because the State-sponsored teachers represent China's national image and serve as cultural messengers.

Ma said worldwide demand for Chinese teachers has increased rapidly in recent years and for a long time there have not been enough competent teachers to meet demand.

For example, the United States' College Board is going to offer an advanced placement course in Chinese next year, which means more than 2,000 high schools in the United States will need Chinese teachers in the future.

To meet this increasing demand for Chinese teachers, the office recruits year round for volunteer overseas Chinese teachers.

The office plans to send at least 120 volunteers to the United States this year, compared with only nine last year.

The volunteer teachers, most of whom are undergraduates or graduate students at school, mainly work in high schools, while State-sponsored teachers work mainly in colleges and universities.

Volunteer teachers receive only a small subsidy (from US$400 to 600), while State-sponsored teachers usually receive government funds of between US$1,200 to 1,500.

Despite the low income and possible inferior working environment,

Chinese students are enthusiastic to volunteer and more than 6,000 qualified applicants have enrolled themselves in the office's reserve force of teachers, Ma said.

"The experience of teaching Chinese in a foreign country will be a beneficial experience for them," Ma said.

Ma said many students volunteer to go the remotest and poorest areas of a foreign country.

Dai Xixin, 42, is an associate professor of the Beijing Language and Culture University. Dai taught Chinese for two years at the National Autonomy University of Mexico from 2002 to 2004 and described her job as "very pleasant and rewarding."

"The difference between teaching in China and in Mexico is that in a foreign country you are not only a teacher of Chinese but also a delegate representing China's image and displaying Chinese culture," Dai said.

Dai said Mexican students respect their teachers, just as Chinese students are eager to learn more about China. Some students learn Chinese because they can find a better job with a good command of the language.

Chen Ruofan, 40, Dai's colleague, served as a Chinese consultant to New Zealand's Ministry of Education from 2002 to 2004. Her job was to supervise the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language in high schools and to advise on the curriculum.

Chen said New Zealand high school students can choose from five foreign languages: French, Chinese, Japanese, German and Spanish. In recent years, the number of students who want to learn Chinese has rapidly increased.