China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Educator brings her empathy to US school for deaf
An educator who became the first deaf person to receive a PhD from a Chinese university has broken new ground with her volunteer work abroad.
Zheng Xuan, 35, works in a “Confucius classroom” at the Metro Deaf School in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Named after the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius schools and classrooms fall under the Confucius Institute program and are generally run as nonprofit public institutions to help foreigners understand China through language and culture classes at overseas universities.
There are 511 branches in 140 countries, teaching Chinese to more than 2.1 million students.
Zheng is the first hearingimpaired teacher to have been sent abroad as part of the program, which was established in 2004.
She has adopted as her personal motto the words of Irving King Jordan, the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in Washington D.C: “Deaf people can do anything hearing people can do, except hear.”
The classroom where she works was set up in 2015 in partnership with the St. Cloud State University Confucius Institute.
Zheng teaches students Chinese Sign Language, basic Mandarin and Chinese culture, but communicates with her colleagues using American Sign Language and English.
“I teach almost all the students here from kindergarten to high school now,” she told China Daily via e-mail. “I work in four different languages.”
Born in Wuhan in Central China’s Hubei province, Zheng lost most of her hearing after a medical incident at age 2. She learned to communicate by lip-reading and entered mainstream education, completing her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Wuhan University, one of the top schools in China. In 2009, she receive a PhD in literature from Shanghai’s Fudan University.
She declined job offers in Shanghai and Shenzhen, choosing instead to teach at Chongqing Normal University’s special education department — the only one in West China for students who are hearing-impaired.
Her rigorous approach to academia and research won her recognition at the school and it took her only two years to become an associate professor and a mentor for postgraduate students.
She has adapted quickly to the different teaching environment in Minnesota and embraces the opportunity to learn about special education in the US.
“The most interesting thing is the huge difference between Chinese and American sign languages,” she said.
“For instance, the Chinese sign for ‘leader’ looks very similar to the American sign for ‘rooster’.”
Students often greet Zheng with the Chinese sign for her name, “China” or “I like you”.
“It is fun and we really get along,” she said.
Kathy Johnson, director of the SCSU Confucius Institute, has studied and researched deaf education in China for 16 years. She decided to initiate a special program to encourage Sino-US cultural exchanges among individuals with disabilities.
But finding a qualified Chinese teacher to work at the Metro Deaf School proved to be a challenge. Zheng was introduced to Johnson through a mutual friend.
“Doctor Zheng is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful and reflective professors I have met,” Johnson said in an e-mail to China Daily.
“They (the students) were so engaged and so excited to learn new Chinese signs and see how they differ from American Sign Language. Their eyes lit up and the smiles on their faces while learning is testimony to how the students are so appreciative of this opportunity.”
Thanks to Zheng’s influence, the school also plans to hold a celebration to mark Chinese New Year.