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<\/div>Excellence in teaching involves constant and continuous engagement in inspiring students, encouraging and guiding them to develop into well-rounded, independent individuals and thinkers.<\/p><\/div>
Professor of Chinese Language and Culture and Bingham Endowed Chair Qian Gao<\/strong><\/p> Professor Qian Gao quotes Chinese philosopher Mencius, who said that one of the three joys is \u201cto have fine youths as students to teach and nurture.\u201d The students at Transylvania are certainly a joy for Gao. Her teaching is student centered, proficiency oriented, context based and technology assisted. Gao designs classroom practice with real-life situations; she wants her students to feel the urgency in practice and to own their language skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo teach about my own language, my culture and the great literature in Chinese studies, this is what makes me feel proud every day in my classroom,\u201d Gao explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gao also believes that languages are deeply rooted in cultural practices. Students learning a language naturally learn about the cultural and historical backdrop that helped mold that language. Likewise, engaging in cultural practices makes it easy to learn words and phrases associated with specific social conventions. And it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAbout Qian Gao\u2019s work<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n