ORTV Teachers Visit Mainland China to Conduct Workshops This January, 100 Chinese teachers spent one week of their Chinese New Year vacation attending English teacher-training workshops in Pinghu, China. The training was conducted by five ORTV staff members: Steve Marth and Hazel Johansen from the Taipei office, and Debra Thoreson, Tim Hoffman and Mary Ma from the Beijing office. The workshops were held in a local university and were intense, yet fun. ¡§I think this was the most enthusiastic group I¡¦ve ever worked with,¡¨ said Debra Thoreson. ¡§The teachers were very open-minded and willing to learn.¡¨ For five and a half days, the ORTV employees conducted hands-on workshops with the teachers, who learned many creative ways to teach English in their classrooms. Some of the topics addressed were lesson planning, motivation, creativity, games, songs, and language learning in the communicative classroom. Steve Marth, who made his second trip to China to conduct workshops, explained why he enjoys traveling there to work with the teachers. ¡§I love those teachers,¡¨ he said. ¡§Despite the difficulty of their jobs [some have 60-70 students in a class] they maintain great attitudes¡Xthey were very enthusiastic and eager to be better English teachers.¡¨ The ORTV staff members also had a chance to interact with the teachers at mealtime or through question and answer sessions, sharing personal values and hopes as well as educational philosophy. ¡§I think we made a good impression on them,¡¨ Debra said.