EIL Intercultural Learning

My first week in Shanghai offered living testimony to the old adage that the best teaching is, in the final analysis, a process of learning for the instructor as well as the students. Never in all my years of teaching, and living, have I been as challenged and stimulated as during those beginning days of my stay in China. Of course the highlight of my experience was the beginning Mandarin course that I took from Jessie Duanmu. Three hours a day for five days, I was privileged to learn from, and get to know, this remarkably generous native of Shanghai. I cannot recall ever coming across a teacher as skilled, energetic, and committed as Jessie. Outside the classroom she proved herself to be equally helpful, one such instance being her successful effort, beyond the call of duty, to resolve a mix-up in my own teaching assignment. After each of our sessions was finished, I would spend the rest of the day exploring, mostly by foot, the wonders and mysteries of Shanghai. Looking back, I could not have asked for more from my new friend Jessie and the city in which she resides. A memorable experience indeed!

Albert Perry