English Language Institute in China

ELIC recruits, trains, and sends hundreds of people each year to teach in long-term and short-term programs throughout Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. We are proud to connect ELIC teachers with future leaders where we serve.

Testimonials

Dear Mr. [ELIC Teacher],
It has been two years since you taught the first course overseas. Fortunately, I was one of
the students in that class. It was a wonderful course and has left a very deep impression on me. In
that course, new ideas and thoughts came in and inspired mutually. Until now, your humorous
conversation and excellent examples are still at the heart of my memory for that class. Thank
you for your devotion and your enthusiasm in teaching the class. I benefited a lot.
After the course, I thought over studying overseas carefully. I thought, personally, that going
overseas might change the regular routine of my life to some extent. So, I applied to one of
the universities in the UK, and luckily enough I got the invitation letter. Now, I am sitting in my room and
typing this email. I can not describe the feeling in words. But when the plane took off, I knew my
world had changed. I really enjoy the feeling of interacting with different people who have
different beliefs and different ideas. It makes me reflect on my own culture and beliefs.
I type this email to deliver my sincere thanks for your work. You are an engineer and helped me
to plan my life. I think my example will be the proof that you have made the right choice to be a
teacher. I think you have done the most important engineering in the world.
Sincere yours
[ELIC Student]

From a short-term teacher:
I was pleased to be a part of the teacher training team. From the time I first heard of the project, it was apparent that something special was happening. The ELIC director had been incubating ideas for the project through many years of service in the country and brought the ideas to reality during her doctoral studies.
I found that only a smattering of English teachers was competent in using the language they were attempting to teach. They are bright and hard-working, but, because of cultural factors and limited opportunities they only know some English words and phrases. They told me repeatedly that I was the first fluent English speaker they had ever talked with. They were fearful, embarrassed, hesitant, shy users of the language they were required to teach. To a person, they relished opportunities to communicate and learn. I saw amazing progress. Teachers told me they planned to use not only the English they learned but also the teaching strategies they were seeing modeled.
Though interactions they are beginning to understand that teaching is more than telling; learning is more than listening. Teaching is as much from the heart as from the mind.