Serving Arizona Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
October - November, 2020 Vol 46 • No 5 • Est 1975
Share Your Light BYU China Teachers Program Connects East to West By Merry Gordon
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magine the cosmopolitan delights of Shanghai, the Gobi Desert and Great Wall within easy travel, and the opportunity to engage in teaching and cross-cultural dialogue with students from a wide range of backgrounds. It might sound like a National Geographic documentary, but it’s not—it’s the BYU China Teachers program. A nonprofit extension of the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at Brigham Young University, the program has been pairing American teachers with major Chinese universities since its inception in 1989. Participants are trained to teach English and other target content areas to Chinese students, strengthening ties between nations and providing a chance for both students and teachers alike to gain cultural awareness.
The program began as a non-missionary service opportunity and now offers a paid stipend. But make no mistake, says Sister Sherae Forsyth, who currently serves with her husband as the program’s deputy director, “it’s still a service. It’s like a mission in that you sacrifice time away from family, you sacrifice money, you learn to love and serve in many ways, and you’ll love the people; it’s not like a mission in that you can go home during the summers,” as visas only cover the academic year. Most unlike a mission, BYU’s teachers cannot proselytize in the country—China’s Communist Party has assumed a state policy of atheism. That didn’t keep Sister Forsyth, who taught for three years in the Continued on pg. 3
Gail Leber with a vendor in Tianzifang, Shanghai, China.
Image courtesy of the Leber family
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