A lot of the time, the straight and narrow way to do life (aka University) seems like it’ll end in an office doing a mundane job with boring people…right? Luckily, it’s not the case at all these days. As generations become more aware of the world around them, university degrees are starting to more and more reflect the need for change and innovation. The array of exciting new university degrees and careers on offer these days might just make your career choice easier – and a whole lot more appealing! Have a look at the latest and greatest in careers.
1. Environmental Engineering and Geophysics
If you’re a
bit of a ‘greenie’ who’s all about saving the planet, one of these career path
could be right up your alley. We all know that fuel is a big topic of tension
these days, and we’re starting to rely on Environmental Engineers to create new
fuel sources – wind, solar, biofuels – and create solutions for safer atomic
fission. Geophysics is another cool arm of this career path, focusing on
understanding how the earth produces natural energy resources.
How do you know if Environmental Engineering and Geophysics is something you should study?
These
fields let you use that science brain and also get your hands dirty – while
saving the world! What more could you ask for? Anyone who’s into learning about
the earth and science and loves solving problems could make the perfect
Geophysicist or Enviro-engineer.
2. Biotechnology
Biotechnology
sounded like a freaky Frankenstein kind of job until recently, when we’re
starting to understand the biotechnologists are helping solve the world’s most
pressing problems and most advanced innovations
in healthcare and nutrition in
particular. It’s all about using a biological process for technological
advancement.
How do you
know if Biotechnology is the right career for you?
This field of work is perfect for anyone who has a shared curiosity of biology, engineering and computer science – because it’s a marriage of all three!
3. Financial Engineering
We all used
to thing ‘people who build bridges’ when people said the word ‘engineer’. These
days, there’s a kind of ‘engineer’ for almost everything – including finance!
Financial engineers are also called a ‘quant’ and they’re becoming integral to
the financial world. This is great news for people who were scared to enter the
notoriously tedious world of finance – this one job is pretty exciting and
still very math-sy! Being a quant is all about assessing market risk and predicting future sources of revenue.
How do you
know if Financial Engineering is something you’d like?
Becoming qualified to be a financial engineer includes having a background in computer science, finance and economics. Think the excitement of the movie ‘21’ – but less casinos.
4. Distance learning
No joke – online learning is where education is
going! We’re seeing a trend of adult online learning – learners who balance
families, jobs and study. Becoming skilled at teaching and managing curriculum remotely however, requires a
certain amount of IT know-how and management
skills that the new generations of teachers and educators will have to learn.
How do you
know if distance education is something you could do?
If you’ve
ever dreamed of being a teacher – then boom! Imagine doing that dream teaching job, but from anywhere in the
world. Literally anywhere. A degree in
education, curriculum or adult
education is perfect if this sounds like the lifestyle for you.
Remember,
whatever you decide to study – or even if you decide that University isn’t for
you, you’ll always find a tutor at Eurekly who can help with teaching you the
skills you need to get where you’re going in your career.
Entering
the world of University is an exciting time, with a lot of lessons to be learnt
along the way – in and outside the classroom. Here are our handiest tips for
someone about to dive into the world of study!
Self-directed learning
First
things first, Uni is not like school. Your tutors
are not going to give you the answers, they’re not going to tell you what
pages to read (ok sometimes they actually do – but don’t count on it!) and
whatever you decide to read or work on is what you will learn. This can be
awesome because it means you get to write essays and conduct research on topics
you’re really, truly interested in. It can also be detrimental because you’ve
got to make yourself actually do the work.
Writing lots of essays
No matter
what you study, Uni comes with a lot of
writing. But it’s not all bad! Writing for Uni comes in all kinds of various
forms – essays, creative writing, reflection, reports – and all of those things
are easy to get the hang of if you put a little time into learning their
structures.
P.S. if you really do struggle with writing, pop over to http://bit.ly/eureklywritingtutors where you’ll find the perfect tutor to get you up to speed on academic writing in no time!
Team work can be hard work
There’s a big pro to team work and that’s learning to work with others. There’s also a big con…working with others. Yes, there will still be someone who does nothing, someone who does the wrong thing, and someone who will never agree with you.
Just remember that while it seems like torture, it’s growing you into a co-operative, team-playing, people-skilled machine for the future.
Time management
Uni seems like a dream after high school. There’s no one checking on your homework every night and you don’t have to be in class as long – sometimes only four days a week!
It’s easy to procrastinate by ‘carpe diem’ing… Every. Single. Day. Unfortunately, before you know it you’ll be two days before a due date and WAY behind on the work. The feeling of poor time management is much worse than taking yourself to the library to study or work just a couple of hours a day!
Take it from all the Uni students who have come before you.
Spread the study.
Getting tutor-time
If you’re getting into a fairly broad or popular degree, like engineering, law or business studies, you’ll have some pretty big lecture and class sizes. Those crowds can be a BIG bonus if you don’t like being called out to answer questions but can be a nightmare when you really need something clarified and they just don’t have time.
Usually tutors are really good about making time for everyone in tutorials, but if you find yourself struggling you can always lean on a Eurekly tutor to help you keep afloat of the Uni workload!
Studying something you love
You’ve probably had plenty of parents’ friends and other people tell you ‘you’d make a great lawyer’, or ‘you should get into finance, it pays SO well’.
And while the shiny money seems like the best path to follow, if you end up hating your job or doing the degree everyone else did ‘just because’, you’re not going to actually enjoy earning all that money!
So before you dig in to a career path you don’t really like, do some research, talk to some people, ask as many questions as you can and, lastly, think about what you truly enjoy doing and the rest should be a breeze.
For a bunch of fairly unique and innovative people, New Zealand’s most popular degrees remain, well, kind of vanilla. We’ll give you three seconds to guess which degrees are the most popular…..
Alright, got it? Okay, here we go…
#1.
The degree that some turn up their noses at – the humble Bachelor of Arts (BA). If you’re
new to University lingo, a BA is not just for someone who loves painting and
making unidentifiable things out of clay (that’s a Bachelor of Fine Arts).
The Bachelor of Arts degree has a bit of a bad rep because it’s so broad – but that’s precisely what makes it such a huge opportunity. A BA gives you the flexibility to study all the things you’re interested in, in one degree! Interested in history? Tick. Languages? Tick. Politics? Perfect. This degree means you can get creative with your career. Graduates from a Bachelor of Arts have the opportunity to become: a Government Intelligence analyst, an International Diplomat, a Game Designer, a Radio Producer, a Museum Curator and even an Archaeologist.
Mind blown?
We were too!
The Bachelor of Arts is all about giving you a qualification with a broad base, gaining you transferrable skills that could be taken into almost any career – it’s just up to you to decide. It’s really no wonder this is New Zealand’s most popular degree.
#2
Maybe it’s our curious, DIY nature that makes this next degree the second most popular degree in New Zealand. What are we talking about? The Bachelor of Science. This one gets really fun.
A common perception of this degree is that it’ll either get you into a cushy teaching job, or have you stuck in a lab for the rest of your career. Wrong. Science these days is very much attached to the real world and its progress.
The cool
thing about science is that whatever you’re into in your personal life, chances
are that there’s a field of science you’d love. Ever consider a career creating
the latest and greatest in cosmetics and makeup? Have a knack for thinking up
handy inventions? Maybe you’re passionate about saving the planet. A Bachelor
of Science could have you doing any of these things and more.
Some of the less obvious career pathways from a Bachelor of Science include becoming: an Aquarium Biologist, a Forensic Scientist, a Bio-economist and a Science Journalist.
So, who loves science now!?
As you can see, even the most normal-sounding degrees can lead you to the most exciting places. That’s the magic of learning – it can take you anywhere. All you have to do it start.
We’ve all been there before…burning the midnight oil to get as much last-minute info crammed into our brains as humanly possible before a big test the next day. You’ll know from that experience that it doesn’t make you feel good, but it turns out that it doesn’t make you learn any better or retain information either!
Before you say ‘duh, obviously staying up late is bad’, it’s not just the studying late thing that we’re talking about. Studying for more than ONE HOUR at any time of day or night is detrimental to your focus and memory retention. Here’s why.
Ready for the best thing since Google?
The latest
research in learning has brought us this wonderful thing called ‘micro
learning’. What exactly is it? Let’s analogise your brain first. Think of your
memory like a funnel. You’ve got to pour information into the funnel and give
it time to come out the other end, into the ‘long term brain bottle’. If you
pour information in too fast, most of it will spill over the top of the funnel
and never make it into the bottle. If you just pour in a little at a time,
everything gets safely through the funnel and into the bottle. Can you see
where this is going?…
Micro
learning is about feeding your brain new information in bite sized chunks, with
good breaks between learning so that each little bit of info has time to sink
into your long-term memory.
Why is micro learning so exciting?
Before we get too excited about how awesome this micro learning thing is, we should tell you… scheduling in little bits of learning time will mean making a really solid study plan that begins WAY before you think you need to start studying. The great news is, by breaking up your study and learning time, you create gaps of free time in your day! By studying for only an hour or two a day, you’ve got a whole lot of daylight to burn doing literally ANYTHING else. Oh yeah.
Gone are the days of the never-ending study
sessions
So we’ve said no longer than an hour at a time, but really around 30 minutes at a time is ideal for your attention span and memory capacity. Organising your studying into chunks of 20-30 minutes means the light at the end of the tunnel (aka snacks) is never far away!
Shorter length sessions don’t only apply to studying, but learning too. Our Eurekly tutors have class lengths of anywhere between 20 minutes to 1 hour.
If you need to add a quick lesson on anything to your kick-ass study schedule, just hop over to www.eurekly.com to find the perfect tutor for you!
In recent years, more and more students have opted to find a tutor in an effort
to gain a competitive edge in their education. Instead of enrolling children in
expensive schools, parents are seeing the advantages of hiring a private tutor. After all,
they are beneficial for a wide range of situations, including helping average
students improve their grades, providing remedial support, enabling gifted
students to enrich their abilities, and assisting high school students in
reviewing for their university entrance exams, among others.
Indeed, opting to find a private tutor offers various advantages. In San
Bernardino Valley College alone, students with access to tutoring are more
likely to gain academic success and complete college. Here are some of the
benefits that a student can get when they find a tutor suitable for their needs:
They gain a better understanding of the class
material.
They can carry themselves with confidence in
school and in their personal lives.
They can lessen their anxiety and stress.
They will find learning fun and easier.
They will get motivated to spend more time on
extra-curricular activities while making an effort to improve their grades.
According to research conducted by Technavio, in the US, we can expect the private tutoring market size to grow by USD 5.80 billion from 2018 to 2022. Since there is a strong demand in the market, the number of tutors will also increase dramatically. However, before you start typing ‘tutors near me’ in various search engines, you need to know how to find the person who is qualified to address your child’s needs. In this post, we are going to share some tips on how you can select the ideal tutor who can help your child reach their full potential.
Get Tutor Information from the School
One of the best venues that can help you find a tutor is the
family resource center at your child’s school. In most cases, this office will
have the information you need on how to locate a good tutor through private
companies and through the school system. There are also educational
institutions that offer after-school study sessions. Students can even access
materials and facilities that will help them strengthen their problem areas in
their academics.
You can also check with your child’s school if they have a
program in place for enlisting parent volunteers assisting other parents’
children. By choosing this option, you can let your child experience tutoring
that is targeted toward the expectations for their specific grade level. The
downside to this is that there is not much flexibility in terms of the
schedule, venue, and teaching method.
Consider Getting a Study Buddy
There are students who are not necessarily having a lot of
trouble academically. In some cases, they just need a study buddy who can break
down the class materials for them. This peer tutor can be someone in the same
class who has mastered the topics in the syllabus. They will be able to explain
the concept to other students while building a supportive relationship with
their peers. If you think your child will be more comfortable working with
someone close to their age, you can help them organize a study group. You will
notice that they will be more involved in the learning process while nurturing
their academic and social lives.
When it comes to peer tutoring, you have to be careful in
selecting the students who will study with your child. After all, study groups
are only as strong as their weakest link. So, if one student is rowdy or
unprepared, it can be challenging for everyone to stay on track.
Turn to Tutoring Agencies
There are plenty of agencies offering tutor finder services.
These days, you can find a good teacher through radio and television
advertisements, as well as various parenting publications. There are also
websites where you can type ‘tutors
near me’ and you can get connected with teachers with specific skills
within your geographical location. The advantage of this channel is that you
can gain access to a wealth of tutoring options. You will be able to find a tutor based on your
location, budget, and needs. However, you need to be able to work around the
schedule of the tutor. After all, they will still need to go to your house to perform
their private tutorial services.
Consult Non-Profit Organizations
It is also a good idea to check what tutoring and mentoring
programs are available in your local university or Junior Achievement branch.
There are non-profit organizations that employ students in their training
programs. These tutors can be high school students who want to earn extra money
or college students who need teaching credits. Often, undergraduate and
graduate school students specialize in specific subjects. So, they can be the
best tutors when you are looking for assistance in a particular area.
Enjoy More Benefits with an Online Tutor
According to an article published in the New York
Times, despite the increase in the demand for tutors, most parents are
still shopping around for less expensive options. In Manhattan for instance,
the reasonable price range for private tutors is around $85 to $150. In some areas, the
tutoring fees can rack up to $400 per hour. So, instead of opting for in-home
tutors, parents turn to tutoring centers. However, they do not necessarily get
enough flexibility in schedule and teaching method in these venues.
Great Value at an Affordable Price
It is common for tutors to specialize on a specific area of
learning or subject. Many of them have years of knowledge and experience
related to teaching. Depending on the competition in your area, a tutor may
charge as much or as little as they like. They are free to rack up their fees
when there is a high demand for tutors. On the other hand, when you look for a
tutor online, you will discover that the rates are quite flexible. These
teachers tend to keep their prices competitive. As such, you can rest easy
knowing that you will get a great value for your money.
Guaranteed Service
Whenever you make business transactions, it is essential that you have the security of recompense in case you are not satisfied with the service or product. When you turn to an online tutoring company, you will feel at ease knowing that issues and complaints will be addressed reasonably and accordingly. Reputable online tutorial businesses like Eurekly are confident enough with their services that they do not require customers to make long-term commitments. There are a large number of tutors who offer a free trial lesson, allowing you to determine if they are the right fit for your needs. Moreover, if you are unsatisfied with the service, online tutoring companies will provide you with a refund.
It is true that face-to-face tutoring is an effective
practice. That said, the logistics and expenses can be challenging for many
parents. It can be difficult to coordinate schedules and find a tutor with a
matching personality to the child. These days, most students have computers and
access to the Internet. As such, they can easily connect with an online tutor in any core
subject as often as necessary. Since the options are flexible, tutor finder services on
the web have become more appealing to students around the world.
On the other hand, we should not ignore the fact that many
people still find challenges in locating a private tutor via the Internet. For instance, some
students feel that there is no personal connection when they communicate with
their tutor through their computer. However, it is good to know that there are
plenty of tutors online who are adept at motivating, encouraging, and
empathizing with students.
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of setting a New Year’s resolution that you forgot about before summer finished…we see you. And we’ve all got our hands up, because it’s SO damn hard to stick to goals for yourself when work, family, day-to-day and our phones demand so much of our time.
With that said, we bring you a fool-proof way to smash your New Year’s resolution…
Choose a positive goal
Make your resolution something positive – not lose weight, but get healthier and understand your body better; not stop wasting money, but learn how to invest smartly – you get the gist. Giving yourself something positive to work towards is motivating and means you’re working forwards, not in reverse.
You could decide to learn Japanese, or get better at photography, start coding, or playing the guitar!
Get someone else involved
Having someone dedicated to motivating you through the process of learning, and guiding you along the way is by far the most effective way to stay on track – think of it like personal training for your brain! So this way, you don’t even have to worry about sticking to your resolution, we’ll make sure it happens.
Learn the new definition of ‘sun smart’.
Put our two previous tips together, add in some world-class tutors – and you’ve got the perfect recipe for resolution success – it’s called Eurekly.
Eurekly means you can learn whatever you like from wherever you are this summer – no excuses. All that’s left to do is book a free trial class at eurekly.comand start soaking up the skills.
Believe it or not, summer is the perfect time to learn something new!
‘But summer is for chilling out!’, you say. That’s exactly why it’s the perfect time to focus your brain on a fun new skill. The best thing is that, thanks to Eurekly’s online tutoring, you can be learning wherever you’re holidaying this summer.
Still not convinced you should be flexing that brain right now? Here’s a few reasons why…
Reason One:
A fresh place makes for a happy brain
In summer, we’re all over the place – the season is exciting, new and refreshing. That environment right there is exactly what makes your brain feel motivated to take in brand new information. So, make the most of it. With our international online tutors you can be learning at the beach, poolside… or wherever you’ve got an internet connection!
Reason Two:
Learning loves a mind with no to-do list
You heard it here first clever people – it’s not your fault you can’t remember stuff! You may have heard people booing multitasking lately and for a good reason too. Multitasking sounds like it’s awesome, but it means you’re not giving anything your full attention. Without full attention, your poor brain doesn’t file and store information properly – in fact it throws most of it out the window. The good news? When you’re indulging in the bliss that is holiday mode, that to-do list is short, and your mind is ready to dive into something with full concentration!
Reason Three:
So many hours and you only need one!
Now that you’re not stuck in an office or a classroom for eight hours a day, you’ve got time galore to sunbathe and exercise your brain with something you’ve always wanted to try. It’s proven that short bursts of learning are the best way to retain information, so take that in your stride and learn at top-speed by just doing an hour every now and then while you’ve got the extra minutes. Easy.
So, how do you start doing this awesome summer learning thing?
It’s easy with Eurekly. We’ve got world-class tutors from all over the world waiting to teach you everything they know. All you need to do is sign up at eurekly.com, pick a subject that takes your fancy, and a tutor you like the sound of. From there you can book a class at a time that suits you, then sit back in the sun and get excited to learn.
Are you overwhelmed? Stressed out? Consumed with work, school, kids, the demands of daily life? In our crazy turbo sped frenetic lives, how do you find balance and mental health? The answer might surprise you… Take up a hobby!
“What?! Who has the time? Hobbies are frivolous and a time suck,” you might object. But research shows that people who actively engage in hobbies are happier, healthier and more productive.
So put away the Netflix, Facebook and all the daily habits that make you feel busy and start using your precious moments wisely.
Here are 5 great reasons to help inspire you to start pursuing a hobby today.
1. Hobbies Make You Zen (Reduce Stress)
Hobbies promote “Flow.” Have you ever lost yourself in playing an instrument, or a doing an art project or other absorbing activity? If you have, then you’ve experienced “flow.” Most hobbies engage our minds and bodies actively, whereas watching TV and web surfing are passive activities that don’t distract our critical busy minds. When we are in the “flow” our actively stressed out mind turns off. Time flies, self-consciousness disappears and we experience in this immersive flow state: peace of mind. Think of it as a healthy and healing mini-break from the stress of your daily life.
2. Hobbies Can Lead To New And Meaningful Social Connections.
While some hobbies are solitary endeavors, many get us off the couch and into our communities, meeting people we otherwise may not have. Sharing our passions, and knowledge can lead to especially deep and meaningful bonds with other people. Countless studies have found that social connection is a key component of happiness and a meaningful life, and hobbies have the ability to generate these important relationships.
3. Hobbies Actually Help You Manage Time Better.
According to Parkinson’s law, “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Or simply: things take as much time as you have. We all know the saying” Give the Job to the Busy Person.” It’s true, people who are in the habit of actively getting things done to do more and are more efficient.
Next time the weekend or night stretches out before you and you find yourself stressing over nonessential work or home projects try practicing a musical instrument or drawing or engaging in the hobby of your choice. The structure of having time slots allocated to mentally enriching activities will calm you and make you more efficient.
Hobbies Boost Self Esteem
The more effort and time we spend doing something new and learning a skill the better we become. Whether it is learning a new language or playing an instrument, we all know that “practice makes perfect” or certainly makes way for distinct improvement. The better we become at something the more we start to feel self-pride. In return, this new source of self-pride boosts self-esteem and our overall sense of greater purpose.
Hobbies unquestionably add meaningful layers to our identities and a richness to our sense of self. You will not only feel better about yourself and more inspired when you pursue hobbies actively, but your new grounded sense of self and purpose will help to inspire others as well.
Hobbies Make You Happier
Having a hobby is like having a trusty pet or an attentive lover – no matter the stresses of life, work dissatisfactions, or replays of internal negative tapes your hobby is there to draw your attention, love and focus. Hobbies simply make your days more enjoyable. When we engage with hobbies we care about, we release negatively and build in its place confidence and a sense of purpose. This pursuit of focused leisure “me” time is essential to helping us develop a healthy balanced life. It boils down simply to our innate joy-of-learning new things. Hobbies not only entice us into gaining new skills and knowledge but into fulfilling our potential as human beings.
Whatever your hobby of choice, don’t wait to start enjoying the benefits. At Eurekly, we have your perfect tutor ready to help you start. Dive in today and learn that new language or musical instrument or whatever calls out to you, and start reaping the benefits of a more meaningful happier life.
To Communicate with Millions of People. The most obvious reason to learn Sign Language and the reason that motivates millions of people worldwide is that it is the best way to communicate with the deaf and hearing impaired. But did you realize, just how many people worldwide are hearing impaired? Over 5% of the world’s population or 466 million people has disabling hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). It is estimated that by 2050 over 900 million people – or one in every ten people – will have disabling hearing loss. Currently, in the USA, American Sign Language is the 4th most used language.
2. It Makes You Smarter. Learning Sign Language provides all the same benefits of learning a foreign language. Bilingualism of any languages (whether signed or spoken) is a great brain booster. It strengthens cognitive function and reasoning, increases memory, attention span, creativity and communication skills. Studies show that bilingual students score higher on standardized tests than monolingual students and secondary language immersion contributes to increased IQ in students.
Furthermore, Sign Language can be easier to learn than other spoken languages not only for the hearing impaired but also for people with autism, dyslexia and other learning differences.
3. It Gives You A Superpower: Expanded Vision. Sign language provides all the benefits of bilingualism but also bimodalism as well. Bimodal, that is using visual-spatial medium, expands your visual-perceptual skills: spatial awareness, mental rotation skill, visual sensitivity, and more! Sign language helps to develop small motor skills because of the dexterity required for communicating with hand gestures. Relying on a different sense to communicate exercises your peripheral vision and trains you to become more aware of your environment.
4. It Makes Children Smarter And Better Behaved Sign language is a great way to bond and communicate with pre-verbal children and it benefits impact children of all ages. Recent research confirms that signing boosts babies vocabulary and mental development, and helps to reduce childhood tantrums while deepening the parent-child relationship. Children that learn to sign gain all the benefits of being bilingual and a few extras including being better spellers and readers. Research shows that children who learn basic sign language skills (such as American Sign Language – ASL) have improved spelling skills. Signing helps to give kids another tool for remembering spelling words and leaves a larger imprint on the brain. Our muscles have their own mini-memories, so when we add signing a word to orally spelling the word, it makes it easier to remember.
Because It’s Beautiful and Fascinating. Sign language is, in fact, not one universal language but many different languages — as many as 300 worldwide. The exact number of sign languages is not known as different countries have different forms of sign language which are still developing and changing over time. Interestingly enough, there are even different dialects and accents within a specific country. In the USA for example, we all know that people in Philadelphia speak with a distinctive Philly accent but did you know Philadelphians converse in their own sign language dialect? Philadelphia is known for having one of the most distinctive regional sign language accents and it resembles French Sign Language roots more closely than American Sign Language (ASL).
Sign Language– and all its variations worldwide are filled with a fascinating and rich history. It is a beautiful language that is unique, graceful and filled with expression. Whatever version or specific sign language you want to learn, Eurekly is here to match you with your perfect tutor.
Start learning to today and book a trial lesson with on our fantastic Sign Language tutors:
Teaching on Eurekly is incredibly flexible. You get to decide what to teach and how often. Teaching part-time is a perfect opportunity for students in particular students working towards a teaching degree.
We recently caught up with one of our Mandarin tutors who is a full-time university student to find out a little bit about her and her passion for teaching.
Name: Davella Tang
Current Profession. Full-time student studying: Teaching and Linguistics at Auckland University.
Native language: Mandarin and Cantonese
Also speaks: English
Teaching: Mandarin and Cantonese
Number of students: 12
Q: What does Davella mean? Where did you get that name, it doesn’t sound Chinese.
Well, most Chinese people get an English name for themselves simply because the name sounds good to them. Some of them just search for it online. I got the name when I was 12 because the name of my celebrity crush was “Vae”, so I wanted to have those three letters in my English name. Then I literally just searched “English names for girls” online, and picked this usual name as I really like to be weird and unique, lol.
Q & A with Davella Tang
Q: What do you love about teaching?
A: What made me decide to be a teacher was my interest in teaching foreigners Mandarin. While I have teaching experience in areas other than language teaching, I am particularly passionate about teaching Mandarin.
When it comes to teaching, it takes effort to analyze the language rules, because as native speakers, we speak the language without knowing the explicit rules. Sometimes I spend days trying to figure out the explicit rules of my mother tongue because as a teacher, I need to explain the rules to my students. I find it very interesting studying the rules of my first language since I am always learning something new.
Cultures are closely associated with their language. So when I am teaching, I am also thinking about my culture from a foreigner’s perspective, which is intriguing.
Q: Did you have a teacher that inspired you?
A: When I was in primary school, my head teacher taught me for 5 years. She had a huge influence on me. She always told us to keep reading and keep studying, to be kind and try our best to be the best person we could.
My mother who is a Chinese teacher in an intermediate school in China is also an inspiration. I didn’t want to be a teacher when I was young because I remember my mother was always marking exam papers and essays at home late into the night. A teacher often needs to work overtime, spending lots of time reading and researching in order to prepare well for lessons. When I was preparing for my first one-hour-lesson for my first student, I spent two days preparing it!
Q: Tell us a favorite colloquial expression in Mandarin?
Instead of saying “How are you”, we often ask instead “ni chi le ma?” (Have you eaten?) It is usually used around lunch or dinner time. You can ask your mates or simply any people you know this question. The way people greet each other actually shows how much we value food in our culture in China.
