The Confucius Institute works with school districts across the region to start, build, and expand programs in Chinese language. CIKU assists schools in finding highly qualified Chinese teachers, offers professional development and networking opportunities for K-16 Chinese instructors, and maintains a reference library of teaching materials. The Institute also provides support and advising to individuals interested in becoming certified teachers of Mandarin Chinese.

Districts looking for qualified Chinese language teachers certified to teach in the state of Kansas are encouraged first to contact the University of Kansas School of Education. The KU School of Education offers two programs of study that lead to PK-12 license in Chinese language--a B.S. in Education with a major in Chinese and the Graduate Licensure Program in Chinese. For more information, see http://soe.ku.edu/secondary-education.

The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) also has a Visiting International Teacher program that brings qualified teachers from China to teach in Kansas for a period of up to three years. For information, see KSDE VIT Program at http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1751.

Congratulatons to the 2013 Outstanding Chinese Language Students of the Great Plains Region!

Each year the Confucius Institute at the University of Kansas awards a Chinese-English dictionary to diligent students of Chinese language. These students were selected by their instructors and are to be congratulated for their hard work this year. This year’s winners are: