Meili Chen

I'm from Taiwan. I was a high school English teacher before retirement. I think of myself as a born teacher because over ninety percent of my students enjoyed my class and gave me a very high rating. I think it may have been due to my careful observation of each individual student's needs and my effort to satisfy them. I would like to describe myself as a responsible, enthusiastic, and professional teacher. I'm very wiling to help those who are interested in my language and culture. Being helpful will make my life more fruitful and valuable. I taught English at a high school for over three decades. After retirement, with a Mandarin teaching certificate, I decided to explore something new-- teaching Mandarin online. Now I'm teaching Mandarin and Taiwanese online, which has given me a sense of I focus on each student's specific needs. I'd like to evaluate each student's level, trying to find which skill they may need to improve first. Then I would use some strategies to solve students' problems. For example, if a student focuses on speaking, I would find a topic or a dialogue to work on. To make a meaningful conversation, I would provide some basic vocabulary words and phrases related to the topic. In this way, the student can practice using those words in a meaningful context and improve his speaking fluency at the same time. Moreover, I think listening plays a significant part in communication. Therefore, I would tell some stories or jokes as a warm-up activity not only to raise students' interests but also to enhance their listening. Most importantly, as a language teacher almost in my entire life, I'll stick to the most important teaching principle-- using English as little as possible while teaching Mandarin.