I graduated from Dallas Baptist University with a Master's degree in teaching in December 2012. I am originally from China. I started teaching Mandarin as a Second Language since 2007, including working as a full time Mandarin teacher at Shanghai Community International school for three years. I think that it is interesting to identify cultural differences between the East and the West and to examine them with my students using Chinese.
Except for tutoring, my real teaching experience began in my junior year of college. I volunteered for a year at Jingzhou Special School as part-time English teacher for kids that were deaf. Although there were minor difficulties in communicating with these children, their desire to learn impressed me a lot. I taught them by writing on the board and with limited sign language. I had a huge sense of achievement every time that they learned to speak a sentence or even a single word. I was so touched when I received a New Year's card from some of my students on which they wrote that they learned a lot from me and that they hoped to continue learning from me in the future. Sadly, I needed to leave that city after graduation. My calling to teach was reaching out to me, even at that early stage in my life.
I began my teaching career in 2007. First, I worked as a 2nd grade teaching assistant at Shanghai SMIC School English Track. I was shocked by the difference between Western and Eastern teaching methodologies. I learned that teaching could be done in a fun way. The more I got involved with teaching, the more I wanted to learn how to teach by myself. I asked the teacher of my 2nd grade classroom to let me teach about Chinese Currency, festivals, and other China related topics. Fortunately, in 2008, I got a job in Shanghai Community International School as a Mandarin teacher. I taught foreign children Chinese and Chinese culture and I loved it.
The master program courses I took at DBU help me understand American teaching system and philosophy better am I am looking forward to carrying them out in my future tutoring or classroom.
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