Origins
English Language Institute/China traces its history to 1979, a few months after relations normalized between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the U.S., when contact with China’s State Bureau of Foreign Experts was established. The PRC’s urgent thrust toward modernization and market reform created an unprecedented demand for the English language. Under the leadership of ELIC founder Ken Wendling, negotiations were completed, and the first ELIC teachers were sent to China in 1982. That first year, six professionals served in the PRC, teaching English and building friendships with their university students and faculty colleagues.

ELIC has grown since sending that first team and today sends the greatest number of teachers to Asia, continuing to impact its people and nations in a real and lasting way.

Timeline
1981 – Ken Wendling founds ELIC
1982 – ELIC sends its first teaching team into the People's Republic of China
1985 – ELIC establishes the Summer Teaching Program and sends its first team of STP teachers to China
1991 – Mongolia opens its doors to the first team of ELIC teachers
1992 – The Maclellan Center, home of ELIC's Asia offices, opens in Beijing
1994 – ELIC sends first teachers to Vietnam
1996 – ELIC provides teachers at the request of Laos P.D.R.
Summer 1997 – Camp China sends its first four teams, providing English-only camps to middle school students
Fall 1997 – Two teams of teachers make up the first China Teaching Fellowship, a 10-month program for sending recent college graduates
2000 – First ELIC teaching teams in Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma)
2003 – Ken Wendling retires, Tim Davis becomes ELIC's new president
Spring 2003 – SARS epidemic in China and the potential cancellation of multiple summer teaching projects in the mainland resulted in new opportunities opening up in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, and Mongolia
Summer 2003 – Camp China sends its first team to Hong Kong
May 12, 2008 – Nearly 70,000 die in an earthquake in China's Sichuan Province
Summer 2008 – ELIC works with the Chinese government to establish the Sichuan Earthquake Education Fund
Fall 2008 – ELIC’s U.S. headquarters move from San Dimas, CA, to Fort Collins, CO

Today
It is increasingly evident that Asian countries want to provide English language instruction with excellence. By continuing to effectively train our teachers and expand to new universities all across Asia, ELIC remains at the forefront of that work.

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