Elementary and junior high years
I like reading stories, especially Chinese ghost stories in my elementary years. As a young child I traded sleeping hours for reading "exciting and scary" story. My eyes would not blink while my teacher told us a story in the class. In my young heart I secretly wanted to be a teacher.
High School years
When I got to high school, no more stories but a lot of test. Learning was not fun. I secretly hated some teachers who just read the note to the class, no explanation. I was dreaming that if one day I became a teacher I would change the way to deliver my lesson to the class. I started tutoring elementary students three times a week. I not only earned some money and I also learned about the textbooks and school curriculum.
College years
In my first year in college my friend asked me to sub for her 4th grade class for a day. I was delighted to do that. I stood in front of the "tiny" 4th grade students, they were so cute and wearing a very sweet smile on their faces. I thought that being a teacher was not bad at all. I got a ELL job to teach a class in the evening. The students were from South East Asia, and they were either immigrants to Hong Kong from Vietnam or they were refugees waiting for sponsorship to other countries. The class had a wide range of ages, from fourteen years old to thirty years old. They were all poor, either working in a factory or staying home to care for their younger siblings. I had a lot of joy teaching them, and I made some sincere friendships as well.
College years in States
After I came to the States to pursue my education, I had my first degree in psychology and sociology, the logical choice was to become a social worker. At that time I did not go to the education field for I lacked some classes require for teaching. I went to work as a social worker in the Chicago Areas, mainly working with Chinese immigrants from China, and South East Asia. A lot of time, I taught them survival skills necessary to live in the United States. Most of them had not English language skills.
Living oversea - learning a new language (Japanese)
After three years working in Chicago, I went to Japan with my family. I lived in Kumamoto City for eight years. Suddenly I had no Japanese language skill. I started from zero to learn a new language. I stayed home to care of my two boys and went to my tutor to learn Japanese on the weekends. It was quite a journey to learn a new language. In the end I even got a flower arrangement teacher license from there. What a joy to go from knowing nothing to complete the flower arrangement course with receiving a teaching license! After my family moved back to the United States, I started working at school as a teacher assistant. It was a good schedule for raising children. I worked as a para for about 6 years, working with teachers and students for the special education department. I worked at the elementary school, then at the middle school and finally at the high school level.
Preparation become a teacher
The teaching passion has started to grow. I had doubt about becoming a student again after so many years away from college. I started taking one class, and later took more classes in the summer. Finally I got my teaching license for special education from the State of Minnesota. I did a lot of sub teaching while I was looking for teaching job in my living area. I moved in and out from China when my husband worked in China. I lived in Zhengzhou and Beijing briefly while I flew back and forth between China and the United States.
Semi real teacher
Eventually I decided to become a "real" teacher.
I started with online teaching. I have been teaching Chinese online since 2007, for I can teach from anywhere. I did some online teaching while I lived oversea. Slowly I moved from teaching online to classroom teaching.
Classroom teacher
Currently I teach for St. Paul School District. The Chinese program has just started three years ago when I was hired. Yes, being a teacher is a lot of work; however the smile on student's face will melt the tiredness. The teacher energy comes back to get ready to teach again.