Four Yale College seniors and two recent graduates of the University will spend the next two years teaching English in the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong as Yale-China Association fellows. And for the first time ever, one of those students will be teaching at Zhongshan University in the city of Guangzhou, formerly called Canton.
"This year's Yale-China teaching fellows are a particularly strong group," says program manager Heather McGray. "They bring to the organization an exceptional amount of teaching experience for a group of recent college graduates. We are confident that they will be excellent teachers, and that their initiative, flexibility, and curiosity will serve them well as they adapt to China and Hong Kong."
Katherine Tai '96 of Pierson College will teach at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou -- Canton -- located in Guangdong province, which is close to Hong Kong.
Ms. Tai, a history major, will teach English to economics and computer science majors at the university's Lingnan College, under funding from the Lingnan Foundation of New York City. Ms. Tai designed curriculum and taught writing classes to immigrants at the Washington School for Chinese Language and Culture for three summers. At Yale she was a freshman counselor and seminar coordinator for her college.
Two of the fellows -- Jennifer Weyburn ' 94 and Kate Schuler '96 of Saybrook College -- will teach courses in "Writing About Language and Literature" to English majors at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. They will also teach elective courses on American culture and history.
During her undergraduate years, Ms. Weyburn -- who majored in history at Yale -- worked with the Yale Dramat Children's Theater program and taught environmental education at the Chewonki Foundation during the summers. For the past year she has taught history and served as assistant to the Lower Middle School Head at Saint Ann's School in New York. Ms. Schuler, a humanities major, has been managing editor of both The New Journal, an undergraduate news magazine, and the nationally published The Insider's Guide to Colleges. During the summer of 1995, Ms. Schuler interned at The New York Times as a writer-editor. She has volunteered with AIDS Project New Haven and worked for a summer with City Year of Boston, a service organization.
James Berger '96 of Jonathan Edwards College and Kristen McDonald '95 will teach spoken English to middle school and high school students at Yali Middle School in Changsha, Hunan.
Mr. Berger is an ethics, politics and economics major. He taught English for a year in Austria and Hungary and has been active in the TIES tutoring program while at Yale. Mr. Berger interned with the ACLU of Southern California and has been involved in student government at Yale. He plans to attend law school after his two years in China. Ms. McDonald double majored in literature and studies in the environment at Yale. She has been editor of Earth First Journal, crew member in a watershed survey for the National Forest Service, instructor of white water rafting, and certified nurse's aid. She currently teaches environmental education in California. At Yale, Ms. McDonald led Freshman Outdoor Orientation Trips, rowed competitively, and cofounded the Women, Environment, and Development Consortium.
Philosophy major Robert Schonberger '96 of Jonathan Edwards College will travel to Hunan Medical University in Changsha, Hunan province, where he will teach English to physicians, medical students and medical administrators. After his stint in China, he plans to attend medical school. At Yale, he has been a Freshman Counselor and a leader of Freshman Outdoor Orientation Trips. During his years in New Haven, he has been involved in community service, volunteering with Youth N.H.E.T. and tutoring fifth and sixth graders through the Yale SMaRT program.
The Yale-China Association, founded in 1901, is a private, nonprofit organization based at the University. Yale-in-China, as it was called in its early years, concentrated its activities in the fields of medicine and education. Today it promotes mutual understanding between the peoples of China and the United States through a broad range of educational, medical, environmental, and cultural programs in the United States, Hong Kong and China.
For further information, contact Heather McGray, program manager of the Yale-China Association at 432-0880.