Liu previously taught Chinese in Cupertino High School but later taught at Sunnyvale Middle School. This year, when the student population applying to Chinese courses increased, there was an opening in the MVHS language department. Missing the experience of teaching high school students, Liu applied for the job. In return, she not only got to teach one Chinese class at MVHS, but also four Chinese classes at Fremont High School. Although there is a lot of commuting required to teach at both schools, Liu cherishes the chance to experience different school cultures. Chinese teacher I-Chu Chang, who shares the room with Liu, feels confident that Liu can focus on MVHS students as well as FHS students.
“We spend more time working together and share more ideas in teaching, and I think it’s helpful to discuss about the class materials since we are both teaching Chinese 3 classes,” Chang said. “[Liu] is really adaptive and adjusts into our school very quickly. She also has a great personality that allows her to be willing to learn [about teaching at this school].”
Although she majored in English Writing, Liu decided to teach her mother tongue when she found her interest in teaching Chinese during her one year of volunteer teaching. She taught different subjects in a school in Northern California after she got her teaching credential and Master’s degree in Education from Stanford University.
“Among all the subjects I taught, Chinese was the one most challenging for me, to my surprise,” Liu said. “My students were all non-native speakers and they were really frustrated with the traditional Chinese teaching, like grammar, text reading and writing… I put most of my time and energy into thinking about how I can teach the content in a better and more engaging way.”
Liu learned Chinese as her first language in Wuhan, China but she was not exposed to the Chinese grammar rules that are taught here. She believes that grammar is a relatively new concept for a language with a long history like Chinese, because people started to sum up grammar rules only about two hundred years ago for foreigners. Teaching non-native speakers means that Liu has to view Chinese from a completely different perspective and try new methods of teaching in her classes.
As a result, Liu uses multiple ways to help students better understand Chinese. She prepared cards for students to play the game Password during class. And she sometimes plays Chinese reality TV shows like China Voice and Dad, Where Are We Going?. Liu noted that since Dad, Where Are We Going? reflects conversations among parents and children, it is easy for students to understand and apply for their lives.
Because more and more students are taking Chinese classes as their world language classes, Chinese teachers across Fremont Union High School District meet together regularly to collaborate.
“[We] find additional time, like weekend time and [go] together and talk about how we are going to line our curriculum and how some strategies work the best to engage students to learn from each other,” Liu said.
Freshman Lucas Sze is a current student of Liu’s Chinese 3 class.
“[I really like the games] we play in class, such as Bingo and Hot Potato,” Sze said. “We can keep practicing and applying new words into sentences.”
Sze also added that through the practicing games students can get further understanding of each word, and know more about in which conditions they should use these words.
When senior Luanne Sze, Lucas’ sister, went to find her brother in Liu’s classroom, she met Liu and found her approachable and helpful as a friend. Although Luanne is not Liu’s student, she often visits Liu after school and discusses her brother’s learning and many things else.
“[Liu] is very happy and very excited about teaching, and that enthusiasm sort of rubs off on people,” Luanne said. “Sometimes I [tell] her what troubles I’m having at school, and she’s always very understanding about it. She can really cheers you on.”
