ETS to Hold TOEFL® iBT Teacher Training Workshop and Seminar

in Beijing and Shanghai

　　Beijing, China (June 17, 2008) - The Educational Testing Service (ETS) China representative office has announced the launch of ETS TOEFL® iBT Teacher Training Workshop and Seminar in Beijing and Shanghai. The three-day training sessions will be offered in Beijing on July 11-13 and in Shanghai on July 14-16, 2008.

Ms. Emilie Pooler, a respected senior expert on TOEFL® iBT research & development and teacher training at ETS headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey, will travel to China during the training sessions to offer official and authoritative guidance to English teachers and individuals who engage in TOEFL® iBT training in China.

　　ETS introduced its global TOEFL iBT® teacher development program, the Propell Workshop for TOEFL® iBT, in China in 2006. This teacher training and seminar will be the first specially tailored event offered by ETS for English teachers in China this year. ETS will use this opportunity to conduct in-depth discussions with more English teaching and training institutions in China.

　　The defining factor of the 2008 workshop and seminar compared to the previous one-day TOEFL® iBT training session in 2006 is a shift away from the conventional ‘lecturing and listening teacher training model. The interactive communication method will offer trainees more opportunities to carry out face-to-face communication with a senior expert. This format will also help trainees localize TOEFL® iBT concepts of communicative English language teaching and learning to explore and solve real problems they encounter at work. This will also encourage discussion of various topics concerning the education system and culture. Furthermore the characteristics of the TOEFL® iBT throughout the complete process from test question design to test score assessment will be illustrated.