Shimin Zhou

In 1986, Shimin Zhou came to Milton Academy as an exchange teacher from the Experimental High School affiliated with Beijing Normal University, China’s most competitive teacher-training university.

“I was the first exchange teacher to come here from my school. Leaving my small son back home was very hard, but my mother said ‘Go. Go, I will take good care of him.’

“Everyone said I had to come here – it was such a good opportunity. I had studied English only in China from Chinese instructors and had begun to feel like no one actually spoke the language,” Shimin says.

In addition to the challenges of teaching Chinese to Americans, Shimin found the question of what to call herself in America perplexing. In China, the convention is to call people by their surnames – meaning that Shimin would be called by her last name “Zhou.” But when she introduced herself as Zhou, colleagues and new friends would ask, “And what is your last name?” So Shimin eventually began introducing herself as “Shimin,” using her first name as is customary in the United States.

After what she says was a great year at Milton, Shimin returned to China. Ten years later, she joined her husband in California, where his joint-venture business had relocated. There, she began work toward a master’s degree at California State. The following year, missing New England and her work as a teacher, Shimin returned to Milton Academy – with her son, Alex Zhang, accompanying her this time. Alex is presently a student at the University of Toronto, having graduated from Milton Academy in 2001.

Shimin never wanted any career but teaching, she says. In China, at present, teachers received little pay despite their traditional high status. After reform began in the late 70s, you could get other jobs and Shimin’s friends wondered why she didn’t. ”I just love teaching,” she says. “When I was a student I always wanted good teachers. When I had a good teacher, I worked hard.”
Currently, Milton offers Chinese to students in Classes I-IV; Michael Murray is the School’s other Chinese teacher. “High school students are on the verge of maturity,” Shimin says. “As a teacher now, myself, I always try to recall what it was like to be a high school student.”

"Zhou Laoshi - "Laoshi" means "teacher" in Chinese and most of her students would call her this - always finds a way to demand an awful lot from her students in a fun and painless way," says Michael. "I really feel that the best way to evaluate how a teacher is doing is to look at the success of their students. As the person who inherits her Chinese 1 students the
following year, I can say that my job is much easier due to the fantastic way she has prepared the students the year before."

In contrast to Milton’s average class size of 12, Shimin would often teach classes with up to 50 students each in China. “There wasn’t as much participation,” she says, “but I always tried to get everyone to talk. I taught for 17 years in China. I always put my heart into teaching.
“If I knew I reached someone that day, it was so powerful; I felt energized. If I felt I failed somehow, I thought how I might do it better.”

Shimin’s approach to teaching Chinese is simple: “I start with the basics. Chinese grammar is comparatively easy, although the writing system can be challenging,” she acknowledges. But it is that Chinese is a tonal language that can make it difficult to master speaking, she says. For example, in Chinese, the sound for “horse,” “mother,” “flax” and “to scold” are the same – but it is the accentuated tone with which they are uttered (and the context) that makes the meaning clear.

Shimin also likes to give students new to Chinese a taste of early success, she says, by teaching them everyday expressions on the first day: “hello” (see characters in image) and “goodbye.”

Shimin says that another enjoyable aspect of teaching at Milton is that students here work hard. “They’re all smart and yet there is an element of fun in their approach to learning.” In China, the educational system is less forgiving as the next level of education at the better institutions is only available to those who excel in entrance examinations.

Also a dorm parent in Hallowell House, Shimin says, “I love the girls there. When I get home, I open my door. We chat. It’s like a big family.

“I’m lucky to be in a place where teaching and learning are so highly valued,” says Shimin, for whom excellent teaching remains the highest goal. “I like to work in a little calligraphy and some cultural history,” she says. “But primarily, I need to focus on the language.
“As the old Chinese saying goes, ‘Practice makes perfect.’”