Katie Plank

Tell us a little bit about what you’ve been doing since graduation!

After graduation, I’ve been working in education, and luckily been able to combine that with Chinese! I first worked as a paraprofessional at an elementary school in North Dakota, then taught English in Kinmen, Taiwan for a year as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, and for the past five years I’ve been teaching Chinese and math at Seven Hills School in Richmond, Virginia.

What made you decide to start learning Chinese? And what motivated you to keep going with it? 

I fell into Chinese by accident, actually! I went into college planning to major in international relations and was told that Arabic, Russian, or Chinese would be good choices for languages to learn. After my freshman year, I worked over the summer at UT at the English Language Institute as a language partner for Chinese exchange students; the experience was incredibly fun, and I was impressed by the students’ bilingualism. Being in a position where I saw personally how learning a second language could help build cross-cultural connections made me want to give Chinese a try, so I signed up for a Chinese I class in the fall and never looked back! I immediately loved the unique features of the language that many people think of as a barrier to learning, like characters, tones, and different grammatical structures; I stayed engaged thanks to the wonderful professors and tutors that I had who constantly encouraged me to push my learning as far as I could. I started to watch tv shows in Chinese in my free time for extra language practice and when I returned as a language partner with ELI, I was thrilled to be able to communicate with the exchange students in basic Chinese. While I was fully invested in Chinese even before going abroad, studying abroad in China and Taiwan really cemented my love for and confidence with the language.

What are some of the ways that studying Chinese at UT has helped you in your post-graduate career?

If it weren’t for the encouragement of my professor, Dr. Yen-Chen Hao, I would never have considered teaching Chinese. While I loved learning Chinese and sharing it through my position as the Confucius Institute student ambassador, I didn’t view myself as qualified to teach the language. Dr. Hao encouraged me to consider pursuing Chinese teaching as a career and wrote me letters of recommendation as I applied for Fulbright and for teaching positions. Because of her support, I applied to my current position when Seven Hills was looking for a Chinese teacher, and I’m thrilled to have ended up in a job where I can share a language I love with students. 

To what extent do you use your knowledge of Chinese language and culture in your life and work today? 

I teach Chinese to 6-8th graders, so I utilize it every day. My knowledge of Chinese has especially helped me in being able to create educational experiences that go beyond basic language learning and incorporate cultural elements that I have encountered throughout my own studies. For example, my 7th and 8th grade students study a unit on boba tea; they learn about what it is, the history and spread of boba tea from Taiwan to the rest of the world, and how to order a customized cup of boba tea. The unit culminates in a field trip to a local bubble tea store, where each student orders their drink entirely in Chinese! This year, my 8th graders even asked if they could take the whole 8th grade back to the bubble tea shop and guide their peers through ordering in Chinese. We finished out the year with this trip, where the students were able to utilize Chinese in an authentic and fun context outside of the classroom! I felt qualified to teach this unit because of my own extensive experience purchasing bubble tea when I lived in Taiwan, and the boba trip has become a yearly tradition at our school.

One of my favorite classes this year was completely unplanned; I showed my 7th graders a few pictures from my year in Kinmen because they related to a topic that we were studying, but they were so interested that we ended up spending the rest of the class looking at my pictures and answering the questions that they had about life and education in Taiwan. By the end of the class, many of them were asking if our school could do a field trip to Taiwan!

Tell us about a particularly memorable moment or experience you had while learning Chinese.

One of my favorite things about my time in Kinmen, Taiwan was building relationships with people in the community, especially with the local business owners. As one of the ETAs with higher Chinese ability, I often helped other ETAs navigate restaurants, convenience stores, and clinics. One of my most meaningful connections was with a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor who had a clinic near my apartment. A friend was having back pain and asked me to accompany him and help translate for him at the clinic. The doctor there was surprised to see foreigners in his clinic, but he was delighted to talk to us and explained some of the theories behind TCM while my friend was getting acupuncture. He was so kind and helpful that many of the ETAs who lived in that area, myself included, went to him whenever they were hurt or ill. I personally went there many times throughout my stay, and it was always a delight; he would teach me about TCM, ask me about my experience learning Chinese, and give me sage advice about both medical and personal struggles! These experiences were a wonderful and unexpected way in which Chinese allowed me to make connections, help others, and learn about a different cultural and medical practice.

Did you ever study abroad? If so, can you tell us a little bit about that experience and how it shaped you?

I’ve studied abroad twice in addition to my year in Taiwan with Fulbright. First, I studied for two months in Tainan, Taiwan with the Taiwan United States Sister Relations Alliance (TUSA) summer ambassador program. A year later, I participated in the Critical Language Scholarship for two months in Dalian, China. Both experiences were incredibly meaningful, enjoyable, and empowering. My first experience helped break down my fear of speaking Chinese and using it in a real context; prior to going to Taiwan, I had studied for two years, but rarely had to utilize it outside of Chinese class. I was nervous about how that would translate to a Chinese speaking context, but as soon as I arrived and had to hail a taxi, I felt an intense sense of empowerment at being able to utilize a skill I’d been practicing for two years. Both of these programs were challenging academically, as I tested into the highest class level in each, but I enjoyed how the challenges in class immediately helped me more fully engage with my environment and host culture outside of class. I love exploring new places, and both host communities were amazingly welcoming and vibrant. These experiences helped me realize that I wanted to make Chinese a long-term part of my life and career and also gave me the purest sense of confidence and empowerment that I have ever felt; being able to live in an unfamiliar environment and fully engage with it, despite occasional challenges, is an amazing experience that I feel lucky to have. It made me not only appreciate my host cultures in a more visceral way, but also engage more intentionally with my home culture and gave me confidence in my ability to face challenges and adapt to unfamiliar situations.

What advice would you give to students who are thinking about majoring or minoring in a language but aren’t sure how it will fit into their future plans? 

Do the minor or double major anyway! I ended up taking a 5th year in college, partially because I was committed to completing a Chinese minor; while I understand that’s not financially feasible for everyone, I will say that diversifying your skill set is something that will always help you in the long term, whether it be personally or professionally. Knowing a language opens so many doors that you may not even know exist, from being better qualified for a job to more travel opportunities to just being able to help someone in an airport who speaks that language. Never think of it as a waste if you feel strongly about it; you are investing in not only your professional opportunities, but also in yourself as a culturally competent person. 

What would you tell someone who’s considering taking a language about why they should do it? And what advice would you give them for how to approach language learning?

There is absolutely no harm in giving a language a try, even if you don’t end up studying it to a high level! Everything that you learn will enrich your mind and your world view. I would also say to remember that language learning is a long process; don’t feel discouraged if you aren’t able to communicate or comprehend as well as you would like in the early stages. If you’re excited about a language, don’t be afraid to go beyond your classwork and find a language partner, go to office hours and talk to the professor, find a show in that language and watch it with subtitles, create your own flashcards, learn about the food of that region, etc. While language learning is a long and gradual process, if you put in effort on the front end, you may be surprised at how much basic functional ability you can unlock fairly quickly! As you grow in your proficiency, so many more wonderful aspects of the target language and culture will become available to you. Language learning is a wonderful thing because it’s a subject where you can immediately see and use the things that you have learned, which is very empowering. That being said, don’t be afraid to make mistakes! Mistakes are inevitable, and while they can be embarrassing, people are generally very positive to and supportive of people making a genuine effort to learn their language. To sum things up, I would say to take ownership of your language learning journey; the more active role you take inside and outside of the classroom, the more you will get out of it!