Markus Kirchmayer
It is a brave new world, braver and newer than Aldous Huxley imagined it in his bold 1932 novel. I have been teaching senior high under the “new normal” at the
Anqing Campus for a year now.
The school campus contains a variety of grade levels from kindergarten all the way up to K12. This makes for an interesting environment. There is even a little menagerie with animals to feed for the younger students. The teaching staff is great. Everyone is humble and outgoing which makes being the sole and only westerner quite a bit easier.
The students are the best I have ever had. Teaching them is a rewarding experience and I am looking forward to accompany them along this most formative time of their academic growth. Last but not least, they often make me smile. As for me, I believe in catering to not only the academic but also the emotional intellect of my students. Literature is the most human of abstract expression and used correctly as a teaching framework, is able to kindle creativity and imagination, makes us reflect on ourselves and the environment we are living in, and most of all brings with it the realization that somewhere, some time, somebody has been going through what we are going through at this very moment. It is the epiphany of that shared moment that matters so much.
At this point in time, I’m on vacation in Hainan enjoying the beach and sunshine. I’m having a great time here but I will be happy to return to Anqing to see my colleagues and students once more in September.