Questions & Answers Please keep in mind: the qualification criteria serve as guidance for our evaluation of the applicants. We assess each applicant's qualification on a case-by-case basis. If your situation has any particular issue that hasn't be addressed by the information we released, we encourage you to contact us at member@AmericanTaiChi.org. Q: What do you want for documentation for teaching, does it need to be signed by contractors or others?  A: The documentation for teaching can come in the format of either a formal contract signed by your client and you, or an official letter from your client clearly stating the starting and ending dates of your service, the frequency of your classes, and the length of every class, etc. If you can't obtain the document in any of these formats, we still encourage you to contact us and we will see if we can work out some other way to verify your teaching experience.   Q: Do free demonstration classes or classes taught as volunteers count?  A: Yes.   Q: I see a certification term lasts for two years. What happens after the 2-year term? Do I need to go through the application process again to renew my certification? A: It is common practice in many fields that the professional certification usually stays valid for two years and then it needs to be renewed. The purpose of renewing is to make sure the person who holds the certification continue working in this field and improving his/her professional competency. That being said, the evaluation of the renewal should be different from that of the first-time application. Currently ATCA is still working on the guidance for certification renewal, but we expect renewal should be a simpler process than the initial application.   Q: If I get certified by ATCA for Level I, and then sometime later I reach the standard for Level II, how do I upgrade my certification? A: According to our current criteria, the only difference between the levels is the number of hours in teaching Tai Chi. So unless there is any change in the criteria in the future, after you get certified for one level, at the time you reach the standard for the next one, you will only need to submit the document for the additional teaching hours to ATCA, and then ATCA will upgrade your certification without any additional charge.