As a teaching assistant, you are expected to be able to communicate with teachers in Mandarin Chinese and proactively help in the classroom. Because of this, all new TAs are required to have studied Chinese in the past to some extent. Below are requirements that every applicant is expected to meet. If you do not meet these requirements but feel that you will still serve well as a Teaching Assistant, you may still apply.

Requirements:
1. Must have completed one of the following:
          (a) passed a 6th grade level Chinese class (noted as 6A at SDCA)
          (b) passed 3 years of credit level Chinese classes (noted as C1A/B, C2A/B, and C3A at SDCA)
          (c) have extensive Chinese studies background through other means (ex. lived in Taiwan or China for an                   extensive period and completed some schooling there)
2. Must be in high school in the 2024-2025 school year.

As a teaching assistant, you represent San Diego Chinese Academy and should set an example for the students. The following are guidelines all teaching assistants are expected to follow. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in termination of your position.

Guidelines:
1. Accept guidance and decisions of the school staff (principal, vice principals, office staff, board of directors), assigned teacher, and TA Lead, where applicable.
2. Dress appropriately and act courteously.
3. Report on time as scheduled and sign in with the vice principal upon arrival. After signing in, stay at the office, go to the classroom with your assigned teacher, and help with setup.
4. At the end of the school day, help clean up the classroom and sign out at the office with the vice principal afterwards.
5. Notify the vice principal in charge via email or in-person, as soon as possible, if you are unable to keep your schedule, need to take an extended leave, or if you decide to resign.
6. Do not use any electronic device you bring to school during class time unless it's to communicate with the vice principal in case of an emergency.
7. Do not work on your homework or other tasks you bring to school during class time.
8. Try your best to assist teachers and students. You will observe the class when there is no specific instruction from the teacher and actively engage with the students during the entire class time.
9. Accompany the assigned teacher to computer class, actively help the students, and watch them work unless given other directions by the assigned teacher.
10. San Diego Chinese Academy may terminate you if you have 3 or more unexcused absences. Any absences where you do not notify the vice principal via email or text prior to the sign-in time or in-person ahead of time will be marked unexcused.
11. San Diego Chinese Academy may terminate you if you are absent for 5 consecutive weeks or have more than 7 absences total.
12. San Diego Chinese Academy may terminate you if you are late 5 or more times by 15 minutes each.
13. San Diego Chinese Academy may terminate you at any point if you engage in any inappropriate conduct and do not set an example for the students.

Note that although some rules are more flexible (ex. if you have a prior engagement that cannot allow you to arrive at the sign-in time), certain rules will be enforced more next year.

Additionally:
- Teaching assistants may not directly contact teachers to volunteer for their class and vice versa. You may list your preferences, but no guarantees will be made as to prevent TAs without contact from having unfair disadvantages.
- Teaching assistants may not volunteer for a teacher of family relations (ex. mother/father).
- In order to receive a volunteer certificate (proof of hours), you must volunteer for at least 70 hours for a regular class or 90 hours for a credit class. Exceptions may be made for TAs who list conflicting obligations they may have on the last page or have excellent performance. TAs that join later or leave earlier in the year will have a different hours requirement based on when they join or leave.