Meet MTSU Student and Teacher, Zhou Jie
She crossed the Pacific to come to MTSU and teach others about the language and culture of China
The class is silent. All eyes are on Zhou Jie, waiting for her next command. After a moment she says, “Tiaowu.” There’s a slight pause before the word’s meaning hits them. Then, in the small 3rd floor classroom of the Boutwell Dramatic Arts Building at MTSU, students scramble to their feet and begin dancing. Arms are swinging, hips are moving, and laughter fills the air as everyone enjoys the hands-on approach to learning Chinese. All movement stops, however, when Jie says, “Ku.” The class freezes, and then, brings their hands up to their eyes, pretending to cry. Some try to frown, but that only makes their smiles grow wider.
Zhou Jie, also known by her English name, Helen, is a student and teacher at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). She’s working on her PhD in Literacy Studies with a focus in Chinese Language and Literature and English Literature. Currently, she teaches Elementary Chinese to undergraduate MTSU students. Though the main focus of the class is to teach students how to speak Chinese, Jie doesn’t stop there, and the reason for this, goes all the way back to her roots.
Jie was born in Henan, a province in China widely considered to be the birth place of Chinese culture.
She grew up wanting to experience not only other parts of China but also the rest of the world. Both of her parents were teachers, and after she was informed about an opportunity to teach abroad, everything else fell into place. She majored in English at Henan University, and completed a teacher education program in Beijing. Then, she taught Chinese to middle school students in Thailand for two years. After that, she lived in Shanghai, another province in China, before entering a program to teach Chinese in America.
Fast forward many interviews and applications later, the program matched her with MTSU in 2013. She had never been to the States before and certainly didn’t know anyone in Murfreesboro. However, she says that it wasn’t too difficult to adjust. Because of her travels to other provinces in China and Thailand, Jie had been used to moving to foreign places with different people and different cultures. She said, “Just make new friends quickly and enjoy different things.” Jie admitted that the hardest part is not seeing her family. Even though she misses them from time to time, she enjoys life in Tennessee and immerses herself in all that MTSU has to offer.
One thing that Jie is involved in at MTSU is the Confucius Institute of Middle Tennessee State University (CIMTSU). Their goal is to introduce Tennesseans to Chinese culture and language. They accomplish this by hosting cultural events throughout the year and partnering with local K-12 schools. Jie loves participating in this partnership, because she gets to teach students at two “very good” schools: Homer Pittard Campus School and Central Magnet School.
She also teaches at the Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition (CALA) which is part of MTSU’s Honor’s College. CALA uses scientifically proven methods like TPR (Total Physical Response) and TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) to help make learning languages fun. Jie teaches just a handful of the many classes and summer camps available to all members of the community, not just college students.
Though she enjoys teaching all grade levels, her favorite groups to teach are high school and college students. With them, she can go beyond just teaching the language by introducing them to Chinese culture. Younger students are still trying to grasp their own culture, so it’s harder to explain a new one to them. Jie believes that teaching students about different cultures will help them see the world through different perspectives. This, she says, will help them be more inclusive and think more critically. Jie encourages her students to be openminded about other cultures and to get out and explore the world.
The lessons in her Elementary Chinese class at MTSU frequently include tidbits about Chinese culture. She shows her students videos of festivals, songs, popular TV shows, and celebrities. One class included watching “Hai Cao Wu”, which translates as the Seaweed Dance. It’s a popular song that almost everyone in China knows. After she played the video, Jie asked her students if there were similar songs in America. Answers ranged from the “YMCA” to the “Whip and Nae Nae”. This connection helped her students learn that though cultures can seem very different from one another, they can also have striking similarities.
These cultural lessons are very important to many of her students including, sophomore, Constants Jones. Constants is majoring in Anthropology and hopes to become a translator in China one day. Having moved around from various small towns in her youth, she wants to experience as much of the world as she can. In her Anthropology classes, she learned that everyone sees through a “cultural lens”. The trick, she says, is realizing that you have them. Jie’s lessons help Constants see past her lens and step into the shoes of other cultures.
Another student that has benefitted from these lessons is Zhou Yang, also known by his English name, Joey. He’s a visiting scholar from China and has been in the U.S. for three months. He spends most of his time interning at CIMTSU. However, as an aspiring Chinese teacher, Yang also sits in on many Elementary Chinese classes. Learning from Jie’s example, he takes notes and participates in class discussions and activities. Unlike Jie, Yang said that it wasn’t easy to transition from living in China to living in America, but he’s committed to learning as much as he can and becoming a teacher. He says, “When I teach Chinese, I feel happy.”
Though most of the time Jie feels the same, she admits that being both a teacher and a student is challenging.
On top of teaching two classes, she’s taking three courses and conducting research. One area of her research is on the Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS). The test was originally used to find students who are more susceptible to behavioral issues. Jie is trying to see if SRSS can also be used to predict elementary students’ skill level in reading and math. The other area of her research is on English Methodology Awareness Instruction, which is to help Chinese students learn English. In the future she hopes to create curriculum on how to more effectively teach students foreign languages.
Despite her busy schedule, she makes it look easy with her calm demeanor and kind personality. Jie’s passion for learning and teaching about other cultures embodies the “True Blue” spirit of MTSU. She noted that one of the main reasons she ended up teaching and experiencing different cultures was because she “just took the chance.” Jie not only utilized opportunities that were presented to her, but also made opportunities for herself.
So, listen to the stories of those around you. Find your own opportunities.
And take a chance.
