I am a girl from China and my Chinese name is Ning Zhan. You can call me Jenny, because the pronunciation of my Chinese name is similar with Jenny. I am a first-year graduate student in Art Education at the University of Missouri, and I graduated with a Bachelor of Art in Broadcast and Television at Shanghai Normal University (China) in June 2014.
I love Columbia, Missouri. I should say my heart belongs here. Its garden-like campus and friendly people impressed me deeply when I visited MU in 2013 as an exchange student. Therefore, it became an easy call to make when I was given an opportunity to serve the people here as a Chinese teacher at the MU Confucius Institute from 2014 to 2016. During the time at MUCI, I taught Chinese language at Smithton Middle School, and taught Chinese art/calligraphy at Columbia College as well. Meanwhile, I also taught Mizzou Mandarin (Community Chinese Language Class) on campus at University of Missouri - Columbia and also tutored Mizzou students. I found, surprisingly, that I was popular among my students due to my enthusiastic and loving style. It was also my honor to receive an interview with the Missourian inviting me to share my teaching experience with their readers. I feel a strong bond with this college community that I never have felt before.
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Many friends ask me why I changed my major, precisely, why do I want to be an ART teacher rather than a film maker since my undergraduate program was film making. This was a life-changing decision for me. I have found that art is one of the most effective tools to express the beauty of culture. In my case, some students, initially, were not very interested in Chinese culture when I was teaching at Columbia Public Schools, or they saw Chinese as a difficult language to learn. However, when I introduced some Chinese art such as calligraphy and paper-cutting to my classroom, kids became excited and kept asking me various questions about those “shapes”. Another issue was maintaining some student’s ability to focus. I carefully developed the curriculum and enrichment teaching material by using my expertise in video editing, but unfortunately, I still lost the focus of some students. Therefore, two questions stood out. First, how to capture the students’ focus and second, how to integrate art into teaching. These, along with others, compelled me to apply for the master of Art Ed. degree. I want to learn more about the knowledge of education and how to teach effectively. Importantly, I realize that I love teaching and I want to be a good teacher in the future.
Regarding my previous career development, I couldn’t be more proud of my image studio, named Dream Light, which was established primarily by me in Mar. 2012. It’s the first students’ independently run studio in my college. It has had amazing growth during my two-year tenure as chief producer. We produced seven short films that were circulated online; three of which were recognized by the public. Of the original works in my studio, “Can You Hear Me?”, rises to the top. After much hardship in raising funds and painstaking efforts in producing, it was finally finished and helped me earn the admiration of my peers and praise from my teachers. The studio is like my baby. I took care of it since its ‘birth’ and it’s a source of pride for me to know it remains active after I left.
There is a Chinese saying, KEEP FIGHTING IN YOUR LIFE.
Regarding my previous career development, I couldn’t be more proud of my image studio, named Dream Light, which was established primarily by me in Mar. 2012. It’s the first students’ independently run studio in my college. It has had amazing growth during my two-year tenure as chief producer. We produced seven short films that were circulated online; three of which were recognized by the public. Of the original works in my studio, “Can You Hear Me?”, rises to the top. After much hardship in raising funds and painstaking efforts in producing, it was finally finished and helped me earn the admiration of my peers and praise from my teachers. The studio is like my baby. I took care of it since its ‘birth’ and it’s a source of pride for me to know it remains active after I left.
There is a Chinese saying, KEEP FIGHTING IN YOUR LIFE.