At UBC Chinese Language Program, faculty members are more than just lecturers. They play a mentor role in students’ university life to become successful in future career.
This term, we introduce you to three amazing instructors, Tsai Ying-hua, Lee Li-jung, and Lee An-yi. They have been teaching at UBC for two years and are loved by many of their students. Let’s take a look at what they have to say about their experience at UBC!
Left to Right: Li-jung Lee, An-yi Lee, and Ying-hua Tsai
Instructor Tsai Ying-hua
Instructor Ying-hua Tsai is a visiting lecturer from Taiwan. Over the past year with UBC’s Chinese Language Program, she has been teaching the 100 level and 300 level Chinese Non-Heritage courses for students. Although her teaching experience at UBC is short, she stated that it was a substantial experience with a great harvest.
Ying-hua expressed that her most significant moment at UBC is that she can grow with her colleagues and students. When she first started teaching at UBC, Ying-hua felt the studying and teaching atmosphere in Canada was relatively different from Taiwan. Thus, she had to learn and adjust the amount of homework assigned according to the learning progress of students, which she found challenging at first. After countless communication with students and discussions with other instructors, she was able to explore and find her own way of teaching to adapt to the new environment. Along the way, she gained many meaningful experiences and made various new connections.
Reflecting back, Ying-hua expressed that she values her students’ own interests and learning enthusiasm in teaching. She believes that students’ passion for learning Chinese is rather essential. “When I see my students are becoming keen towards learning Chinese and is passionate about exploring the language further because of my class, I feel incredibly proud. It seems like I have opened the door to a new world for them.“
Instructor Lee Li-jung
Instructor Li-jung Lee, known for her bright smile, started teaching in the Chinese Language Program in the Department of Asian Studies in September 2018. She has taught Chinese courses in the 100 level and 200 level for both heritage and non-heritage students. Her first impression of UBC was that UBC has a vast diversity of students coming from different countries all over the world.
Li-jung indicates that she attaches great importance to students’ attitudes towards education. She perceives students who are willing to learn lovely, and in this regard, she found that her students at UBC do have an enthusiasm for learning. Li-jung hopes that she not only helps students to improve their language ability but also sustain their passion for learning. Adding on, she hopes to see students walking out of her classroom smiling. To cultivate students’ interest in learning Chinese, she aims to act more of a peer instead of an authoritative figure for her students, associate in-class exercises with their daily life experiences, and promote interaction between students and the community.
Li-jung expressed that she loves the way instructors get along with one another in the Chinese Language Program: “We can pool our wisdom and learn a lot from each other. I can draw on others’ strengths to make up for my shortcomings, which makes it easier to deal with many tasks.“
Instructor Lee An-yi
As a visiting lecturer in UBC, this year is instructor An-yi Lee’s second year teaching. Most non-heritage learners would probably recognize her as she teaches Chinese language from the 100 level to 300 level Non-Heritage courses. She indicated that the working atmosphere at UBC is supportive, and she can acquire help from other instructors when she needed them.
Furthermore, An-yi indicated that her teaching experience at UBC has brought significant changes to her. Not only did her teaching style improved, she realized that she has experienced a growth in her personality. As she gets along with her colleagues and students at UBC, she sees the university as a mirror where she could reflect on her weaknesses and explore other potentials that she did not know before.
One thing that Instructor Lee found surprising when she first started teaching at UBC was that students sincerely regard their teachers as friends and are willing to share their lives with her. She indicated that this made her feel warm and closer to her students. Another unique thing she discovered was that each of her students has their own study style and pace. This resulted in her to keep in mind that she needs to maintain a high level of flexibility when cooperating with students.
Throughout her teaching experience at UBC, An-yi mentioned that she found her journey inspiring and rewarding. Instead of requiring students to learn in a certain way, she learned that it is necessary to understand that every student is different and has their own way of learning things.“For me, I believe my job is to help students to set up the right framework instead of telling them how to do it.”
Written by: Tiantian (Summer) Jin 金田田
Edited by: Lilac Lo