Before I talk about my current time in China, I just want to describe a little bit about myself and previous experiences in China as well as my aims for this blog. My hope is to give a bit of context for my current Fulbright project.
Self introduction
This current decade for me has been defined by my wholly unexpected blossoming interest in China and its main language, Mandarin. When I graduated from college in 2008 amidst the financial crisis and near economic collapse, I honestly had no inkling that I would ever go to China. It wasn't even on my horizon as a place I wanted to travel to in the future. I had always wanted to go to South America with romantic dreams of recreating a "Motorcycle Diaries" - esque trip through the continent.
But my life didn't turn out that way. The harsh realities of the job market at the time especially in the non-profit sector which interested me the most forced me to look outside the US for work. In 2010 after passing a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification course, I accepted a year long teaching job in Nanning, China at the Sino-Canadian International College of Guangxi University.
One year teaching at Guangxi University turned into three years.
Though teaching there had its ups and downs, it was mostly an enjoyable experience. At times I would get frustrated with my students as they often showed low levels of motivation for the class despite my best efforts to make the learning material interesting and engaging. This was especially true with my last year teaching there but I did meet some great individual students while I was there some of which I still keep in contact with.
Moreover, during that time, though I at first eschewed learning Mandarin except for basic phrases eventually I became hooked. I was tired of being ignorant of my surroundings and wanted to better engage and understand the local people. Also, Chinese people often assume that since you are a foreigner, learning Mandarin well is beyond your capacity. Even speaking half decent basic phrases and words would merit complements from Chinese people. I wanted to prove them wrong. But more importantly, I just found the language fascinating. It was a different way of thinking. I was also intrigued by the Chinese characters though they initially seemed an overwhelming challenge to learn at first.
After returning to the US for graduate school, I wanted to keep up my Mandarin language skills. I had put in three years worth of time and effort into it, it seemed like a waste to let such an ability diminish. I was also still very interested in the language. So for two years, I tried to keep up my language skills through personal study (using an podcast called Chinese pod and reading Chinese texts) and meeting weekly at the University of Maryland with a Chinese international student for an hour long conversation in Mandarin.
During graduate school, I also attempted to make sense of the personal experiences I had in China. Roughly speaking, I sought to see the forest for the trees. I knew from my firsthand experience how important and popular learning English was in China. For my students, learning English was something they largely had to do as a means to advance in their education and eventually get their preferred job in a fiercely competitive labor market. I wanted to know more on a structural level about why the English learning phenomenon had developed and its implications for a country rapidly developing into a global heavyweight. One of the first papers I wrote in graduate school delved into this topic. Though over 20 pages in length, I only seemed to scratch the surface of a burgeoning subject.
These intertwining interests in Mandarin and English language teaching in China subsequently spurred my desire to pursue a Fulbright research grant in China after finishing my masters degree.
Aims for this blog
Rather then write a laundry list of the activities I do in China and thoughts I have about the country, I hope to have particular focus/theme for each blog entry. I want to connect my previous experiences in China with my current ones. Also, I would like to share the insights I gain from my Chinese studies and research work.
Fulbright critical language enhancement award (CLEA) and research grant
I am currently in Harbin, China (in the far northeast of China near the border of Russia) participating in an intensive language program at Harbin Institute of Technology funded by Fulbright CLEA. This is a supplemental award I received on top of the research grant to prepare me linguistically for the research work I will do. During the 3 and 1/2 month long program, we cannot speak any English here and we have 20 hours of courses each week. On top of that we have daily homework and quizzes. So far, though I've only gone through one week of class, it's been an exhausting experience.
After December 14th, I will be in Kunming, China (in the far southwest of China near the border of Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam) doing my research project at Yunnan University for 10 months. You can see a copy of the research plan I originally submitted here. Overall my aim is to better understand how greater economic development and trade in a rapidly growing region of China has impacted the development of local English language teaching in the secondary school urban school system. I hope to interview local education officials in Kunming as well as visit a hand full of secondary schools to interview principals, vice principals and English language teachers as well as observe English language lessons. I also would like to meet with groups of students in these schools to talk to them about their experiences learning English. In practice, this plan may be tricky especially getting access to education officials and schools but hopefully the professor I will be working with at Yunnan University will be helpful.
Self introduction
This current decade for me has been defined by my wholly unexpected blossoming interest in China and its main language, Mandarin. When I graduated from college in 2008 amidst the financial crisis and near economic collapse, I honestly had no inkling that I would ever go to China. It wasn't even on my horizon as a place I wanted to travel to in the future. I had always wanted to go to South America with romantic dreams of recreating a "Motorcycle Diaries" - esque trip through the continent.
But my life didn't turn out that way. The harsh realities of the job market at the time especially in the non-profit sector which interested me the most forced me to look outside the US for work. In 2010 after passing a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification course, I accepted a year long teaching job in Nanning, China at the Sino-Canadian International College of Guangxi University.
One year teaching at Guangxi University turned into three years.
Though teaching there had its ups and downs, it was mostly an enjoyable experience. At times I would get frustrated with my students as they often showed low levels of motivation for the class despite my best efforts to make the learning material interesting and engaging. This was especially true with my last year teaching there but I did meet some great individual students while I was there some of which I still keep in contact with.
Moreover, during that time, though I at first eschewed learning Mandarin except for basic phrases eventually I became hooked. I was tired of being ignorant of my surroundings and wanted to better engage and understand the local people. Also, Chinese people often assume that since you are a foreigner, learning Mandarin well is beyond your capacity. Even speaking half decent basic phrases and words would merit complements from Chinese people. I wanted to prove them wrong. But more importantly, I just found the language fascinating. It was a different way of thinking. I was also intrigued by the Chinese characters though they initially seemed an overwhelming challenge to learn at first.
After returning to the US for graduate school, I wanted to keep up my Mandarin language skills. I had put in three years worth of time and effort into it, it seemed like a waste to let such an ability diminish. I was also still very interested in the language. So for two years, I tried to keep up my language skills through personal study (using an podcast called Chinese pod and reading Chinese texts) and meeting weekly at the University of Maryland with a Chinese international student for an hour long conversation in Mandarin.
During graduate school, I also attempted to make sense of the personal experiences I had in China. Roughly speaking, I sought to see the forest for the trees. I knew from my firsthand experience how important and popular learning English was in China. For my students, learning English was something they largely had to do as a means to advance in their education and eventually get their preferred job in a fiercely competitive labor market. I wanted to know more on a structural level about why the English learning phenomenon had developed and its implications for a country rapidly developing into a global heavyweight. One of the first papers I wrote in graduate school delved into this topic. Though over 20 pages in length, I only seemed to scratch the surface of a burgeoning subject.
These intertwining interests in Mandarin and English language teaching in China subsequently spurred my desire to pursue a Fulbright research grant in China after finishing my masters degree.
Aims for this blog
Rather then write a laundry list of the activities I do in China and thoughts I have about the country, I hope to have particular focus/theme for each blog entry. I want to connect my previous experiences in China with my current ones. Also, I would like to share the insights I gain from my Chinese studies and research work.
Fulbright critical language enhancement award (CLEA) and research grant
I am currently in Harbin, China (in the far northeast of China near the border of Russia) participating in an intensive language program at Harbin Institute of Technology funded by Fulbright CLEA. This is a supplemental award I received on top of the research grant to prepare me linguistically for the research work I will do. During the 3 and 1/2 month long program, we cannot speak any English here and we have 20 hours of courses each week. On top of that we have daily homework and quizzes. So far, though I've only gone through one week of class, it's been an exhausting experience.
After December 14th, I will be in Kunming, China (in the far southwest of China near the border of Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam) doing my research project at Yunnan University for 10 months. You can see a copy of the research plan I originally submitted here. Overall my aim is to better understand how greater economic development and trade in a rapidly growing region of China has impacted the development of local English language teaching in the secondary school urban school system. I hope to interview local education officials in Kunming as well as visit a hand full of secondary schools to interview principals, vice principals and English language teachers as well as observe English language lessons. I also would like to meet with groups of students in these schools to talk to them about their experiences learning English. In practice, this plan may be tricky especially getting access to education officials and schools but hopefully the professor I will be working with at Yunnan University will be helpful.