“It’s decided. I will never become a teacher,” I shouted to my mom when putting together my university admission applications in 2016. In a country where teachers are treated respectfully and receive stable salaries, my naïve thoughts, to my mom, were out of track.
Throughout my undergraduate years, I, however, worked as a part-time English teacher, offering tutoring services to pre-university students, undergraduates, and even adult learners with full-time employment. My teaching career continued during my postgraduate studies at the University of Macau, where I had opportunities to consecutively work as a graduate teaching assistant, an English language teaching assistant, and a guest writing assistant for around 1.5 years. After leaving graduate school, I began a one-year, full-time assistant instructor position at an EMI university in China. I am now in my second year as a Global Professor of English at the University of Arizona.
Such a shift—from unbecoming to be(com)ing a teacher—was shaped and fueled by my reflections on the test-oriented teaching and learning I passively experienced as a pre-university student, my exposure to effective and engaging teaching strategies in higher education, and my profound fulfillment when seeing my students benefit from my teaching, past, present, and future.
In this section, you will find a teaching portfolio that demonstrates my dedication to teaching excellence:
