In its role as a tertiary institution specialising in teacher education, the Institute initiated the Bachelor of Education (Languages) (BEd(L)) programme, with Chinese and English majors in 2001. The 4-Year degree programme was carefully planned to prepare professional teachers who will qualify to teach Chinese or English at the secondary school level. In the first cohort of the BEd(L), nineteen students were admitted as Chinese majors, twenty-one as English majors in 2001.

In summer 2005 the first cohort of students admitted to the BEd(L) in 2001 will graduate from the Institute. In this article the Joy of Learning would like to share with the readers what these students experienced on their road to becoming knowledgeable professional language teachers of tomorrow.

What does a good language teacher need?
Knowledge, skills and passion are the crucial attributes expected of a good language teacher. In a nutshell, a trained language teacher should have excellent proficiency in the language and good subject knowledge, which is the language system itself. She also needs to be well versed in subject-related pedagogical knowledge, world knowledge, have effective interpersonal and pedagogical skills and, no less important, a professional working attitude. A good language teacher should also be interested in the cultures associated with the language, should be willing to take risks and should always be trying to improve her teaching to benefit students' learning.