Oxford Superintendent Dr. William Skilling spent the first two weeks of March in China supervising the interview process of Chinese teachers that are going to be hired by the district for the 2010-11 school year.
He was in China from March 5 to March 18.
‘We’re going to have five Chinese teachers from the internship program at Michigan State University’s Confucius Institute,? said Skilling.
He interviewed and trained 36 potential candidates over the two weeks.
‘I am excited about the potential candidates coming,? he said. ‘I have narrowed it down to five that I think are my top candidates and I have two others, and so we will probably be interviewing seven.?
He noted that the second round of interviews was going to be done by Skype because he would like to involve a couple more people in the process.
Once the interview process is complete, the hired teachers would be doing an internship program teaching migrant workers at MSU over the summer before they begin teaching classes in the fall 2010 semester.
During his time in China, which was paid for by BBC Consulting, a contractor of the Confucius Institute, the school district held it’s first community forum about the school budget deficit. Concerns were voiced about him not being there.
When this reporter asked him if the trip could have been moved to a later date so he could have been in attendance at the forums, Skilling responded that the Chinese students were coming in April and this was when the interviews were scheduled.
‘I didn’t perceive it to be a problem,? he said. ‘But, when I got an email regarding that some people were concerned that I wasn’t there, we changed the second meeting.?
In addition to interviewing potential new teachers, Skilling also worked on a couple of innovative ideas for the school district.
One idea was to create a virtual foreign exchange program for the students at OHS, as noted in Project ReImagine.
‘The concept comes from the idea that a lot of the kids don’t take advantage of our foreign exchange program because it takes away from the activities they’re involved with, whether it be the fine arts, athletics or their peer group,? he said.
Skilling would like to have the students participate in the program without leaving home and their after school activities.
Due to the 12 hour time difference, students would participate from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and learn from Chinese teachers in Beijing, China.
‘It would be the Chinese teachers teaching our students in a virtual way that is interactive…so you are actually there, you see the teacher, the students and building a relationship as if you are actually there in the same room,? he said.
Skilling also discussed the possibilities of having Chinese students virtually take English courses at the high school.
Three initial classes would be offered during the school year beginning at 6 a.m. and running till 8 a.m., according to Skilling. Classes would be 55 minutes long.
Three sessions would initially offered, with the option of adding more sections to them.
‘We would give our English teachers the first opportunity. It would be a way for them to do additional teaching and to earn additional income from it,? he said.
They could also hire outside teachers and contract them to conduct the classes if needed, but Skilling said that option was still up in the air as to how many would be current teachers in the district versus how many they would contract out.
Skilling also noted that the district was in the process of trying to set up a boarding school for Chinese students in a foreign exchange program.
They were contacted by Michigan State University and Dr. Yong Zhao of the Confucius Institute to see if they were interested in setting up a boarding school in conjunction with BBC Consulting.
‘The issue is that there are more a lot more Chinese students that want to come to America to participate in the foreign exchange programs, but there aren’t enough hosting homes,? Skilling said.
‘If we started a boarding school, it would allow for more Chinese students to have an opportunity to come to America for a year as a foreign exchange student and do it in a boarding school setting.?
Skilling added that the goal is to try and have this running by next fall, but they were not sure if it was going to happen because they are still looking at potential sites.
‘We’re doing everything we can to make it work for next fall, but it might be another year away if we can’t work out the logistics and housing.?