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05.06.05 Hannah Collier Erskine senior to teach English in China for a year A summer 2004 visit to Hong Kong has parlayed into a unique opportunity for Erskine College senior Hannah Collier once she graduates May 14. Collier, an English major and business minor from Columbia, is going back to China this summer and is staying for at least a year. "I am going independently to China — not through an organization," she said. "I went to Asia last summer and I knew I wanted to go back there to teach students around my age or a little younger." Collier has been invited to teach at Sias University, an American-run institution of higher learning on the outskirts of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, which is the strategic gateway to inland China and well known as one of the major transportation hubs in China. There are about 10,000 students at the school and she will be one of the youngest teachers there. She learned about the university from her pastor at Covenant Presbyterian in Columbia, who used it in a sermon illustration and her mom had seen something about it in World magazine. Collier hopes this experience will be a stepping-stone toward her desired career of teaching English as a Second Language. She still has to have her visa approved by the Chinese government, but if everything goes as planned, she will be at Sias University for at least one year and can renew the contract if she desires. She's leaving her options open at this point and might choose to seek her master's in English as a Second Language when her year of teaching in China is concluded. Part of her decision to teach in China has to do with her desire to travel, but also has to do with her faith. "I have the chance to do it — God provided it — and it all worked out," Collier said. Her first experience in Asia came last August when she went to Hong Kong with OMF International for a month. Collier taught 13 and 14 year olds at the school. "It's not easy," she said. "Asian people are eager to learn and once they trust you and know you, they're willing to open up and be your friend." One of the biggest obstacles she faced, Collier said, was challenging the better students while at the same time not rushing the poorer students. There is religious freedom in Hong Kong — which will not be the case when she goes to China. "We could pray with the students," Collier said of the Hong Kong trip. In China, she said it would be difficult to share her faith. "I think it's going to be hard, but I think if they come ask questions about Jesus, I can answer them," Collier said. And, if her Hong Kong experience is a gauge, students will learn to recognize Collier because of her sacrifice. She said in Hong Kong, students were "blown away that we raised our own support and pay to teach them rather than getting paid." Collier said she hopes to learn some of the Chinese language while she is overseas. "They offer classes for teachers," she said. "They also pay for three 'culture' trips a year — I'd like to maybe see the Great Wall of China." Most of all, though, Collier hopes to find out whether teaching in China is "where God's calling me." She leaves Aug. 15 and her contract expires on June 15, 2006. First though, she has to travel to Seattle, Wash., to gain her teacher certification. She leaves June 4 to begin that process. Collier admits it is a little unsettling to be going to a nation like China by herself. "I'm not going to know anybody, but there will be other foreign teachers there, so it'll be OK," she said. Plus, Collier said, she'll have the support of her parents, her church and her friends. "I've prayed about it and feel like this is where God's calling me to be at this point in my life," she said. |
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