By Angela Rioux

Helping give people a better chance at life is why Michelle Jeter ’00 has returned this spring to China, where she is putting her college education to work. Jeter, who received her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on elementary and middle school education, recently embarked on her second year of teaching English to Chinese youth. She also holds a master’s degree in education from Regent University with a concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

Most students in China start to learn basic English at the age of 8, Jeter said, adding that English teachers are in such high demand because, in order for Chinese students to get into their country’s universities, they must pass an English entrance exam.

From February to December 2004, Jeter taught in a small town in northeastern China. She and her roommate, Kathy McCarty, started out teaching a few extracurricular English classes to some 30 students at an arts school. By December, as word spread about the foreigners, they were teaching 1,500 students at three schools, including a public high school and vocational school. “The majority of our students had never even met a native English speaker before,” said Jeter, whose work abroad was arranged through a Chinese-based nonprofit organization. “I don’t think they had ever had teachers like us before. We shook up the schools with Bingo and Hangman, dramatic re-enactments, off-key songs and bad jokes. I felt sure that they all thought these American girls were absolutely nuts.”

There were a few other English teachers in the area, but not many Americans. As for her Chinese-speaking skills, Jeter said she learned the bare minimum when she first went over, asking friends how to say numbers and basic words. Her vocabulary increased by being immersed in the culture and using a lot of drawings and hand motions to communicate.

This year Jeter has returned to a different part of northeastern China, helping establish a new English language learning center that will offer English classes to elementary through high school age children. She said she is drawing on her college education to help out in the areas of curriculum development, staff recruitment and teacher training.

The send-off that Jeter received when she left China last December still lingers and certainly played a part in her decision to return in May. “Kathy and I were invited to numerous lunches, dinners and farewell parties by school administrators, fellow teachers, students and parents of students. Even the students who had only been in our classes for one semester got emotional about us leaving. They made speeches, wrote us letters, gave us gifts and took countless pictures.”

Jeter had, indeed, made a connection. “It was hard for me to leave them. Over and over again, during the farewell events, the students kept saying, ‘Don’t forget me,’ ‘Don’t forget about us.’”

Commenting on her decision to return to China, Jeter explained, “There is such a demand and need that it’s hard for me to stay away.”