Four more foreign teachers have joined our English program at Henan University of Technology, bringing the total to eight. Half are from the U.S., two are from Canada and the others are from Australia and Scotland. I’m sure our students are baffled to hear English spoken with so many accents.
Here are capsule bios of our newest teachers:
Greg: At 65, he’s our most senior citizen. He comes from Tasmania, an Australian island below the southeast corner of the country that’s best known as the home of the Tasmanian devil, a black marsupial that’s about the size of a small dog. “Some people think I’m the Tasmanian devil,’’ Greg jokes. A classics major in college who worked as a government administrator, he retired about 10 years ago but quickly got bored and took a job teaching business in Nanjing. He’s also taught in Dongguan, a southern China city near Hong Kong. He has eclectic interests, including horse racing, ‘60s British rock music (he wrote a book about it) and ancient China. He’s got three grown children. His wife, Cheryl, accompanied him to Zhengzhou but just returned home.
Darren: His parents are from Hong Kong, but he grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland. His Chinese looks and Scottish accent are a confusing combination here. “They think, `What kind of Chinese person is that?”’ he says. Darren studied journalism in college, but had a hard time finding a job in the field. So he got certified to teach English to foreigners and ended up in Zhengzhou. Darren can speak a little Cantonese, but doesn’t know Mandarin, which is the main language in Zhengzhou. “They look at my face and they can’t believe I can’t talk to them,’’ he says. Darren, 27, has a younger brother and sister, and his parents own a takeout restaurant in Edinburgh. He once entered a national boxing tournament in Scotland (he lost in the first round) and appeared in a music video promoting a match between two Edinburgh soccer teams.
Kristina: She grew up in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., and went to Morgan State University in Baltimore, where she majored in chemistry. She was working as a private teacher, home-schooling children, before coming to China. She has traveled extensively in the U.S., but this is her first trip abroad. She’s adjusting to the pungent smell of the squat-toilet bathrooms on campus, which have no doors and open directly to the hallways. “It’s a little weird, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it,’’ she says. Her father is an insurance adjuster and her mom is a DC police detective. Kristina, 27, has three younger sisters. Though she’s only been in China a short time, she’s already comfortable here. “I wake up every day and feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be,’’ she says.
Sarah: She grew up in Atlanta and studied psychology at Kennesaw State University. She graduated in May and was persuaded to come to China by her college friend Emily, who is also on our staff. “I’ve always liked teaching,’’ she says. “During my last semester in college, I taught statistics and sailing.’’ Sarah, 24, first visited China in 2011, when she spent one month hiking on sacred mountains. She thinks the biggest difference between Chinese and U.S. culture is “collectivism vs. individualism,’’ but she thinks Chinese people are very resilient. Her father is a former engineering professor who is now a high-school teacher, and she has a younger brother who is working at an Italian restaurant while taking a break from college.
