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College offers students chance to learn more

China Daily, May 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

As a new graduate of Hotan Teachers College in 2016, Liu Pei prowled the annual job fair held at her alma mater in late April, hoping to find opportunities to work in the area where she had studied and lived for three years.

Graduates visit a booth during a job fair organized by Hotan Teachers College, Hotan prefecture, in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on April 29. [Photo/China Daily]

Graduates visit a booth during a job fair organized by Hotan Teachers College, Hotan prefecture, in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on April 29. [Photo/China Daily]

The 21-year-old from Northwest China's Gansu province wanted to become a teacher in Hotan prefecture in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"I have been here for three years and formed an affection for everything here, the environment, the people... I believe there will be great opportunities for my life and career if I stay here," Liu said.

Jurat Dolat, director of the college's department of student affairs, said more than 1,400 students will graduate from the college in 2016, and, judging from previous experience, many will end up landing jobs as bilingual teachers in Xinjiang.

"Last year, the employment rate of our graduates exceeded 88 percent. Among all the colleges in Xinjiang, we had the largest number of students who were employed as teachers last year," he said.

Zhang Wenying, a bilingual teacher at No 1 Middle School in Hotan's Jiya county, was such a person. The 29-year-old, who is of Han ethnicity, moved from Northwest China's Shaanxi province to Hotan in 2007, so he could learn Uygur at the college.

He graduated in 2010, and now speaks fluent Uygur and teaches Mandarin to Uygur students.

Zhang urged the college's graduates this year to add fluency in the Uygur language to their skill sets.

China has 56 ethnic groups. The Han are the majority group, and Mandarin is the official and most widely used language. In Xinjiang, many locals lack even basic Mandarin knowledge. The language barrier not only puts the mat a disadvantage in the job market, but also impedes economic development in the region. The autonomous region encourages ethnic groups to study Mandarin to enhance mutual understanding and open up career opportunities.

Learning the Uygur language is also helpful for Han students who want to work in southern Xinjiang, where bilingual education is in short supply, according to Zhang.

Hotan prefecture is known for its harsh natural conditions and poverty. Hotan Teachers College had trouble enrolling Han students before it started recruiting them directly from other provinces and regions in 2005.

More than a decade later, the population of Han students and teachers at the college has increased from 5.5 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2015.

Zhang said his class had 40 students when he was a student there. Twenty-five of his classmates were from outside Xinjiang. After graduation, 35 of his classmates chose to find jobs in Xinjiang.

Since 2010, 526 of the college's 583 graduates recruited from other provinces have chosen to stay in Xinjiang.

Ababekri Ablet, the president of the college, said Han students from inland provinces get to live, learn and communicate with Uygur students and teachers at the college and that sets them up to find work in the region.

"After graduation, they are willing to start their careers here," he said.

To help improve the employment rate, Jurat Dolat, the college's student affairs department head, said the institution will hold a series of lectures and training events this year to boost students' skills, so they can hunt for a wider rage of jobs, in addition to teaching.

"We encourage our students to broaden their vision when it comes to careers, and try some work opportunities in other fields, like being a civil servant or working in the private sector," he said.

Mamatemin Gojaabdula, general manager of an international trade company in Hotan, led a delegation to the job fair in search of talent.

"We are a fast-developing company that makes and sells handmade carpets, so we are particularly in need of young talent with ability," he said. "Hotan Teachers College nurtured lots of such people and we hired six satisfactory graduates last year, so we came again."

Mixed classes

To boost bilingual education, Hotan Teachers College started offering mixed classes for Han and other ethnic group students in September 2015. So far, the college has 40 such mixed classes, accounting for 29 percent of the total.

In the mixed classes, Han students not only have classes with other ethnic group students, but also can live with them in the same dorm.

Abliz Hekpar, 21, from Qira county, said he had no Han friends before he started taking mixed classes at the college. He said living and learning alongside Han students helped him improve his Mandarin.

Likewise, Han students have also made friends with Uygur students.

Every morning, Miao Lanxuan reads aloud in Uygur with the help of her tutor, Aynur Ghulkhazim, another student at the college.

Since 2005, the college has encouraged Han students to practice their Uygur in the classroom every morning, while Uygur students read Mandarin aloud to Han students.

Miao, from Shihezi city in northern Xinjiang, started studying in Hotan last September. She wanted to learn fluent Uygur and make more Uygur friends at the college.

"I have four Uygur language classes each week, which I thought might be far from enough to improve my speaking ability," Miao said. "But my tutor helped me a lot and I got to practice my speaking and learn grammar from her."

Miao also applied to live in a dorm with Uygur students.

She likes dancing and is good at modern dancing, while her roommate, Arazgul Turejan, likes folk dancing. She said the pair like to dance together in their dorm.

Thanks to the mixed living and learning environment, Miao said she can now speak fluent Uygur and even bargain at local bazaars with a Hotan accent.

Cheng Bin, from Gansu province, is also learning Uygur at the college and has developed a friendship with his roommate, Turghun Abduraziq, who hails from neighboring Kashgar prefecture.

Cheng said he had a fantastic winter vacation when he was invited to stay with Turghun Abduraziq's family for more than 40 days. He said he was warmly welcomed, and his friend's mother treated him like her own son.

Cheng said he will return the favor by inviting Turghun Abduraziq to his hometown during the summer vacation.

The college will expand enrollment of students from inland provinces in the future to encourage more Han students and teachers to teach, learn and live alongside Uygur students, said Zhao Ming, secretary of the college's Party committee.