I plan to make several posts about the trip to China, which was incredible, but thought at this point I'd just answer a few questions about the trip:
What did you teach? I taught a Psychology course (my PhD was in Instructional Psychology and Technology) and a Western Literature course. Both were so fun!
Where is Chengdu? Chengdu is the capital city of the Sichuan province, in western China. It is ironic that most Americans have never heard of this city, which has a population of 13 million (by comparison, New York City has 8 million). I taught at Sichuan University, which is one of the highest ranked universities in China.
Why did you go? For me, the main driver was a chance to immerse myself in Mandarin Chinese. I've been dabbling in it for a few years and this provided the opportunity to go deep. I studied with tutors for 3.5 hours a day and had lots of natural opportunities to practice. Lani and I have also considered taking our family to China for a month since Annemarie and Maria speak Chinese and it seemed like a good idea to do a test run.
What was your favorite part about China? Definitely the students! I'm including a picture of my literature class (any psychology students reading this, don't worry, I love you too! It's just that Lani took the pictures of the Psychology class and they haven't been transferred to this computer yet). I have so many wonderful memories of having great discussions with incredibly smart people about topics relating to psychology and great works of literature.
More to come...
4 comments:
welcome home friend! I can't wait to hear more about it!
Very cool! It makes me want to do it. Did you teach in mandarin then or did you teach in English? How fluent were you and Lani before you went over there? Oh and how did you set it up (did you work through a program or just know people at the school)?
It is great to hear that you had a great trip in china. My question is how do you get into the program. And that great the your family has been given that opportunity to be there. My goal is to one day also go to China.
@Shelley: I taught in English. I've been semi-fluent in Chinese for the past couple of years and this experience really helped me step up one notch.
@Shelley and Mavy: I was very blessed to get connected with Lion Education, which is an organization that helps connect Chinese Universities with American professors. It was a great experience!
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