It is my pleasure to introduce you to LTS Student Shulei Wang (2017-18):
Hi Rebekah! Please tell the world a little bit about yourself.
Hello everyone! I’m from Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. If I were to pick an animal to represent my personality, it would be a kitten. If I were to pick an object to represent my personality, it would be a rose.
Nice choices! Have you been enjoying the LTS program so far?
Yes! I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was little. How I narrowed down that I want to teach language(s) is because language acquisition is a part of my daily life. I’m not a native English speaker, and I learn and practice English every day. Language acquisition is a fun and surprising process.
It really is! What are you hoping to learn/gain from the program?
I want to learn how to teach. Being a teacher seems easy…I mean, everyone has been to schools and knows how a teacher’s’ job looks like, but it’s a lot more than that. A big part of teacher’s job is not seen by students. Classroom management is also very challenging too…When I was in school, I was a naughty kid and I really liked those class clowns. Haha.
Rebekah Wang teaching her Chinese Club students
And I know you are involved with the Chinese Club at Edison Elementary School–how has that experience been going?
It’s been challenging but is helping me learn a lot! Proficiency levels are very different. Some students are just beginning to learn Chinese, and some students just came to the states recently from China and have been studying in Chinese schools for several years. We only meet once a week, and it’s on Friday afternoon. This term, students’ motivation can be low, so I need to think of creative ways to inspire them- thankfully I am learning ways to do this in the LTS program.
You do the Chinese Language Circle too right?
Yes. Currently all participants can’t converse yet. We covered numbers, basic greetings, seasons, and a portion of pinyin. Please join us on Mondays at Mills International Center from 4 to 5 to learn some basic Chinese. Everyone is welcome to join. No background needed.
Rebekah Wang (right) with LTS classmate Ngan Vu (left)
Any final thoughts?
Eugene is a nice place to live. There is usually no traffic jams which is so nice as opposed to big cities. It’s small enough that I can get anywhere in 20 minutes, but it’s also big enough that it has almost everything, so it is a great size. I’m going on my sixth year here living in Eugene, and am still enjoying it.
Thank you for taking the time for this interview! I’ll have to come practice my Chinese sometime!