Ms. Li-hua Zeng of TCU’s Chinese Language Center Receives Outstanding Teacher Award for Her Teaching and Other Endeavors

Text: TCU’s Chinese Language Center
Translation: Steve J. Lin

Ms. Li-Hua Zeng has received the 2017 Outstanding Teacher Award from The Association of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. Ms. Zeng was born and grew up in Hualien, and has volunteered in many charitable organizations. She attended TCU’s training program of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language in 2011, and became a teacher at TCU’s Chinese Language Center in 2012. Ms. Zeng has spent her leisure time volunteering with her students at several indigenous institutions in remote areas, and East Coast Children’s Weekend School, Dongli Elementary School, The Association of Effective Children and Family Care were among them. Her enthusiastic teaching has been highly regarded.

Ms. Zheng used to teach Information Technology (IT) at Hualien Commercial High School. She hosted many overseas’ friends for the Rotary Club, and met many young students from overseas. When Ms. Zeng tried to teach them Chinese, she found out that they used the Roman alphabet to learn Chinese, but in Taiwan, we used Zhuyin. Thus she decided to attend TCU’s training program, to learn how to teach them Chinese using their familiar ways and employing a systematic approach.

A simple thought changed her retiree’s life considerably. She has more good friends, and met a lot of young people from numerous countries. Ms. Zeng said: “Some international students are only fifteen or sixteen years old, and I wish to assist them adjust to a new living environment.” She noticed that her students visited Chishingtan Beach, Taroko National Park, or night markets very often, but rarely went to other places. So in 2013, she and her students volunteered at East Coast Children’s Weekend School, which she had volunteered at for many years. Every international student enjoyed serving there.

Students of East Coast Children’s Weekend School are indigenous, and they seldom meet people from overseas. While these international students used broken Chinese to introduce their own countries, they felt as if they were famous movie stars. The indigenous children were inspired by these big brothers and sisters, for coming a long way to Taiwan to learn Chinese. Furthermore, these tribal children realized the importance of learning Chinese, and wished to further explore this world.

Ms. Zeng decided to teach another professional subject after reaching the age of fifty. She said: “As long as we are vigorous, and willing to learn subjects that we know very little about, a lot of opportunities will come to us.” Other than teaching Chinese in Taiwan, she wants to go overseas to teach Chinese someday, to those young children longing to learn Chinese, yet lacking the opportunity for doing it.

Other than Ms. Zeng, another Center teacher, Mr. Jun-fu Chen, also received the Outstanding Teacher Award in 2016. TCU’s Chinese Language Center upholds the teaching of Dharma Master Cheng Yen, the founder of our center, to instill Tzu Chi’s humanistic culture into courses, with a goal to enhance students’ love and gratitude, and to spread international perspectives to remote villages, for underprivileged children to see the world. These international students are grateful that, while learning Chinese in Taiwan, they have the opportunity to do something for the needy and add a little color to their lives.

For the second year in a row, a TCU Chinese Language Center teacher has won the Outstanding Teacher Award. Apart from the teacher’s dedication, more and more young Chinese teachers are looking forward to working together for the disadvantaged in their own hometowns, so that the Chinese teacher is not just a teacher who can teach Chinese.