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11.03.05 Erskine alumna teaching in China Hannah Collier graduated from Erskine College in May with a degree in English and finds herself months later teaching her native language in China. Collier, who hails from Columbia, is teaching at SIAS International University in Henan Province, China. SIAS is the only university in China with about 100 foreign teachers, most of whom are from the United States, but there are also teachers from Canada, Japan, the Philippines and South Africa. "Many of us are believers, so we're hoping we can shine through our work and our lives," she said. The Erskine graduate says teachers range in age from 21 to 75. "I have new adopted siblings, grandparents and parent figures," she said. "It's really cool!" SIAS is seven years old and has 12,000 students. The university offers degrees in English, business and economics. "It is different from universities in the U.S.," Collier said. "Freshmen have to declare their major the day they arrive on campus and they can't change it after the beginning of their sophomore year. This is true of almost all universities in China." When she first arrived, Collier was assigned to be a sophomore English professor, which means her official title is oral English professor. She teaches 18 hours per week — 16 hours with the sophomores and two hours with local high school students who attend an intensive English-speaking camp at SIAS. Collier has a one-year contract, but she could extend her stay. "Right now I am loving teaching here so much," she said. "I might renew my contract for one more year, but I am not thinking about that until the end of the school year when I have to make that decision." Although she's enjoying her experience, Collier said she does miss her family and friends. "I love and think about my family and friends back home," she said, "but I know that this is where God wants me to be." Collier said she was very excited about teaching when she arrived in China and jumped in head first, but initially was not prepared for the English level that her students were capable of achieving. "They are much lower level than I expected because I am not teaching English majors," she said. "It has been hard to reach out to the students who are really struggling and at the same time not make the class too easy for those who are very bright since all of my classes have both extremes. "It took a lot of smiling and encouragement to get my students comfortable with talking aloud in class and opening up to me," Collier said. She said teaching English as a second language is hard work, but "I like the challenge." Collier said she wakes up each day "usually very excited" to head to class. "I definitely have the typical few students who don't want to be in class, but the majority of my students want to learn, and it is for them that my teaching is so well worth it," she said. The teacher said the hardest adjustment for her was the busy schedule, learning how to manage her time and when to say no. "Not only do I teach, but I hold office hours for students to visit and practice English or have personal conversations, I make lesson plans, and I am taking four to five hours of Chinese a week so that I can learn how to communicate with the people here," Collier said. "I knew that I needed to make some time for things that I enjoy so I just joined the Chinese drum team, and I sing for the Sunday night fellowship here for the teachers. "I would also like to practice my ping pong skills," she laughed. Collier said it has been interesting and challenging to adjust to the way students and the Chinese administration do things, which are different from the U.S. "Schedules and time are not as important as they are in the U.S., and where we try to go to the root of the problem if there is one, they talk to everyone else but the person with whom they are having issues because they don't want to hurt the person's ego. It's called 'saving face' here," she said. "We learned the first day of orientation to be flexible like a rubber band, and I can definitely say that is true here. I have learned to just 'go with the flow.'"
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