Teachers in bind over presents
By Zhan Lisheng（China Daily 09/10/2008 page4）.
GUANG ZHOU：Lai Chun yi，a primary school teacher in Guangzhou's Tianhe district，has been put in a rather embarrassing situation over gifts from her students and parents.
“Teachers'Day，which falls today，is very close to the Mid-Autumn Festival on Sunday，many of my students and their parents have sent me gifts，”she told China Daily yesterday.
“It has put me in a very embarrassing situation”
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She said some of the gifts were too expensive to accept and what she most appreciates is a greeting card or something made the by students themselves.
“That's why 've bought these toys and stationery articles to exchange with my students as a solution，”Lai said.
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China's Teachers'Day started in 1985 to encourage people to show respect to teachers and care about education.始于1985年的中国教师节，旨在激发人们尊师重教的热情。
而在《中国日报》另外一篇同样是教师节的新闻中，关于广东农村代课老师待遇问题的报道，文中引用了代课老师、省委书记、教育部门官员等几个采访对象的话，交代了省政府为解决这一问题将会采取的一些措施，却没有关于代课老师（substitute teachers）的背景介绍，外国受众根本不了解“代课老师”这个在中国农村教育事业中比较特殊的群体的情况。如果编辑在处理这篇对外报道稿件时，能够将代课老师的历史渊源和现状作为背景资料进行适当的介绍，对“Substitute teachers”的特殊涵义进行解释说明，外国受众将会非常清楚地了解到这篇报道的价值所在。
Time up for substitute teachers
By Liang Qi wen（China Daily 09/05/2008 page5）
GUANGZHOU：Substitute teachers will have a mixed future in Guang dong，the provincial Party secretary said here on Wednesday.
In a meeting with local educators and officials，Wang Yang said the time was ripe to rid the province of such transitional posts for the benefit of both students and the teachers themselves.
He gave education authorities in all cities three alternatives：one，promote existing substitutes to full teaching posts and provide them with proper training and decent salaries；two，offer substitutes non-teaching positions；and three，fire them.
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“I have heard far too many complaints from teachers about how miserable their lives are，”Wang was quoted by the Southern Metropolis Daily as saying
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Xiao Chu works as a substitute teacher in the city of Zhao qing，where the minimum monthly salary is supposed to be 580 yuan（85）
Substitute teachers do the same job as authorized teachers，but are paid only a third of the wages，she said.
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However，getting rid of substitute teacher posts will not solve all of the province's education problems，Luo Wei qi，head of the Guang dong education bureau，said this week。
The problem is that even authorized school teachers in rural areas earn less than civil servants，he said.
According to a report published in Monday's Yang cheng Evening News，the provincial government has said it will“strive”to increase teachers'salaries to a level equivalent to those of civil servants.
The government also plans to include rural teachers within the social security system to improve their living and working conditions，Luo said without giving details.
Also，a more transparent system is needed to supervise the transfer of money from provincial governments to lower-level authorities that is intended to go to teachers.