Greetings former colleagues. It's that time of year again. Time to start thinking about teaching in China. For those who don't know me, I am a former European division math prof. But during the summer I run a program in China for current and former Maryland faculty. And once again I am looking for adventurous Maryland instructors who are interested in coming to China during the month of July, 2016, to teach a 3-week conversational English class at a top-rated Chinese university. This is the former Asian division program created by Joe Arden many years ago. (Some of you AD old timers may remember it.) I took it over it about 10 years ago when the Asian division dropped it. 

The university in question, Northwest Polytechnical University (NPU, or Xibei Gongye Daxue in Chinese, Xigongda for short,) is located in the ancient city of Xi'an, once one of the great cities of the ancient world and geographically the eastern end of the historic Silk Road, the famed trade route connecting Europe and Asia. If you have heard of Xi'an at all, it is no doubt due to its world famous terracotta warriors, a veritable army of thousands of life size soldiers, each molded out of clay, each unique in its features, the entire army buried in the desert by the mad emperor Qin.

I have been teaching conversational English at NPU at the College of Aeronautics every summer since 1999. The Asian division stopped sending faculty in 2003, the summer of SARS, but NPU never wanted the program to end, so every summer since then they have asked me to aid them in their search for instructors. Which means the former Asian division exchange program with NPU is now the Mackles Summer Program in China, or MSPC. ;-) I am your link to a once in a lifetime experience - the chance to spend 3 weeks at a Chinese university that is ranked among the top 40 schools in the country; the chance to live on a real traditional western style university campus; the chance to get to know your students, and hence the Chinese people, as you never would on a typical tourist jaunt through China's greatest hits; the chance to eat some of the best Chinese food you have ever eaten in your life, and the chance to experience arguably the most exciting (and needless to say, most controversial) place on the planet at this time in history - China.

I do not believe I am exaggerating when I tell you that instructors who have taught here in the past have found the experience to be one of the most memorable of their teaching careers. Past instructors include debra rosenthal, judy plaisance, patrick mendes, james jordan, charles brumfeld, marianne tate, pat glass, alex boeringa, ray komar, walt millington, anita hibler, nick zoa, jerry collins, diane duray, kerry painter and tobe levin, among others. 

This gig is not for those who are looking to supplement their income. It is for those who seek adventure. The pay is modest - around $325 for the 3 weeks plus a $15 a day food allowance (at current exchange rates) - for the 3-week stint. However, NPU will put you up at a nice Chinese hotel right across the street from the campus. It will reimburse you for a night’s stay at a modestly priced hotel both upon arrival and again at departure. In addition, the school will book and pay for your flight to Xi’an from your arrival city, and again from Xi'an to your departure city. 

The school will also arrange for weekend trips to local tourist sites like the terracotta warriors. (Unfortunately, due to cutbacks in the program the school can no longer cover the entrance fees.)

The fly in the ointment here is that we have to get to China on our own. I believe the Asian division used to supplement Asian division faculty members’ flights, but with the collapse of the Asian division program we are essentially freelancers. I continue to seek some reimbursement from our hosts for the visa cost (currently $130), but so far without any success. On the other hand, the new Chinese visa is a 10-year multiple entry visa, which is especially nice if you'd like to come back and explore china at a more relaxed pace.

So that's the deal. You do NOT need to be an English teacher to apply for this assignment. You are NOT expected to teach English. I am a math teacher. Previous instructors have been economists, political scientists, psychologists, computer scientists and accountants, as well as english teachers. The students have already studied English for many years. Many are even studying for the GREs in preparation to go to a US grad school. This is not about being an English teacher. This is about being a good teacher. The challenge is to get your students to open their mouths. It is a conversational English class, with the stress on conversation, not grammar or writing skills. Your job is to make your students talk.

I think that if you accept this assignment you may find this to be the most challenging, and at the same time, the most liberating teaching experience of your life. There are no textbooks, no topics you need to cover, no guidelines from the administration, no official syllabus, no awful course goals or objectives. You create your own syllabus and your own class schedule. (That's right - you can choose your class times!) More than any other time in your teaching career, you will be on your own. It is both frightening and exhilarating.

I have taught 13 summers at NPU, and I love the place. The students are the best - bright, interested, friendly and funny. China is the antidote to your yearly dose of Maryland's "untraditional students." Admittedly, this is a money-losing proposition. But really, if you think about it, you would spend more on a three-week vacation with hotel and meals then you will ever spend in China. Outside of the airfare to China, you can live at the university’s expense if you really need to pinch your pennies.

Needless to say, you can definitely find much MUCH better paying teaching gigs in china than this one, but it is unlikely you will ever find one that lasts for such a conveniently short period of time, one where you actually know the guy putting the thing together - me. Besides, those gigs actually require you go out and find them, send resumes, have interviews, require a minimum one year commitment, etc. But here, a wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity is being dropped right in your lap. 

Are you interested? Have any questions? Please drop me a line! I'd be happy to provide more details upon request.

Looking forward to seeing you this summer.

josh mackles (jmackles@hotmail.com)

Director, Faculty Search Committee
Chairman, China Division

Here is an incomplete list of all the instructors that have taught at NPU during the history of the program. There are a lot of holes in the list from the years before I started teaching there. If anyone can help me fill in the gaps I'd really appreciate it. 

Taught at NPU, But When?

Judy Plaisance

1991 :

Steven Usdansky (Okinawa)

Janet Smith (Okinawa)

David? (Japan) and wife (I believe she worked for IBM in Japan)

Hi Josh!

I was there in 1992 with Gary Laugel (hi, Gary!), Anne forgot-her-last-name the biologist from Korea and Rene forgot-her-last-name the head of the English program from Japan.

It was great.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Maybe next year :-)

Thanks, Steve! Thanks, Debra! Sorry I missed your replies! Debra, I am always looking for faculty for the program. In fact, someone just dropped out for this summer so I am again in need of someone if you are interested. The semester runs from July 10 - 28. In addition to all the big changes that have taken place at the school there have been some nice increases to our reimbursement. The pay is still a long way from the break even point, but nevertheless it is getting there. 

I'm at debra.rosenthal   at gmail, Josh.  :-)

Hi Josh,  I was interested in finding out more about the Teaching in China summer stint you posted in Jan 2018, so looked up this previous post of yours. Lo and behold, it’s the old Asian Division program that I participated in during the summer of 1992 with Gary Laugel and Debra Rosenthal. I saw your timeline of the program and see them listed but not my full name, so for the record, it’s Renee Kilmer, and I was teaching in Japan at the time (Misawa).  I can’t recall the name of our fourth member, never saw her after that, but had worked with both Gary and Debra before. So now you can fill in the blank with one more name on the roster of previous teachers in the program.  It was such a great trip. 

Thanks, Renee, for filling in one more blank in the puzzle of who taught during the early days of the program. When I created my list the only thing I had to go on were the summaries written by visiting faculty members describing their experiences. Not every instructor wrote a summary, or if they did, their summaries were lost to posterity, leaving many gaps in my list. Thanks for filling in one. And by the way, the first name of the fourth person who taught with you was Ann. (No last name found.) 

All I remember is that she taught biology and was married to an officer. I think they were stationed in Korea.