Yong, a Fulbright scholar from China, is spending the year teaching Chinese courses at UMHB. Until this year, the university was unable to offer Chinese courses.
Students stare at her as she puckers her lips like a fish.
“Huhu,” she says, as she points to the rounded shape of her lips.
The room soon sounds like a lair of owls, as students attempt imitations.
As for Yong’s teaching style, it’s all about interaction and encouraging students to converse in Chinese.
“I never really do the teaching and preaching,” she said. “I lead them to their own discoveries.”
Even before her first student sits, she asks, “Ni chi fan le ma?”
Because the class is right after lunch, she asks her students what they had for lunch and how they liked it, which is what prompted the chorus of “huhu,” when a student said lunch was okay.
By creating conversation, Yong said she tries to create a sense of community among her students.
“When they begin the semester, they are strangers,” she said. By the end, she wants them to be friends.
Yong had students exchange phone numbers to learn numbers in Chinese as well as provide a means of contact.
“Some language cannot be taught,” she said. “It is something to be learned.”
In China, Yong taught English as a second language to nearly 20 English majors in each class. At UMHB she teaches a total of 15 students in her beginning and intermediate Chinese courses.
“We go back to the very basics – A-B-Cs,” she said. “But it’s fun.”
“You feel so close to them,” she added.
She said the experience of teaching in China and now Texas is like night and day.
“In China, I have to consider how Chinese will influence English learning, compare the features and try to predict the possible mistakes and confusion that students will have,” she said.
“Here it’s totally opposite,” she added. “It’s as if I’m seeing myself in some mirror.”
While proficient in English with an undergraduate and master’s degree in language, Yong had never traveled to an English-speaking country.
“I’m here to get some real experience, especially culture,” she said. “I always wanted to know more about this country.”
On top of teaching Chinese, Yong will also take several courses.
“Teaching is just one part of a job,” she said. “You’re also supposed to be part of the community and let people know about your country, your culture.”
“You are a teacher first; you are a student, too,” she added. “What I’m looking for is the student part.”
When Yong applied for a Fulbright Scholarship, she chose two locations in the United States that she thought would be ideal - Texas and New England.
“Texas is the most typical place,” she said. “New England because it’s famous for its history.”
From those choices, the program narrowed the number of universities down to five, and UMHB made the cut.
“Probably Yan Yong was looking for the kind of university that we are,” said Dr. Derek Davis, UMHB college of humanities dean. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to come to Texas?”
“We’ve had a good experience with Yan Yong,” he said.
This is the first time UMHB has applied for a Fulbright scholar.
The program has allowed the university to expand its foreign language program to include Chinese.
“China is becoming a major international player,” Davis said. “Increasingly, students need to learn how to speak Chinese.”
Davis said most schools focus on Spanish, French and German.
“It’s important that we start here,” he said. “It’s just a start.”
lfrase@temple-telegram.com
