By Jia Mei
Rishi Ling ’18 is a CC alumnus who majored in Music. Following graduation, he worked for one year as a Paraprofessional at the Department of Music at Colorado College. He received a Princeton in Asia Fellowship ’19 to teach English at the University of Macau in Macau, S.A.R. China. He is currently supporting PiA as an intern and also working as a tech facilitator for speech communications classes at various liberal arts and community colleges in the North Shore Chicago area
Why did you apply to Princeton in Asia?
I applied to PiA because I was looking for ways to connect with my own Chinese heritage through service-oriented work in Asia. Ideally, I had hoped to work as a teacher in a non-profit and support communities in the eastern and southeastern regions of China. PiA appealed to me because of its financial support, placements, and mental health and wellness resources; its mission to build bridges and foster cross cultural communication; its robust alumni network and resources; and its ongoing efforts to become a more inclusive, equitable and diverse organization.
I first heard about PiA from Gretchen Wardell, and I owe her and Dr. Chelsea Walter so much for their support during the application process. Also Dr. Amy Kohout for sharing with me her experiences as a PiA fellow.
If you are at all interested in applying to PiA or similarly competitive international fellowships, I encourage you to connect with the absolutely phenomenal people in the Career Center and Colket Center. CC is so lucky to have them!
What influenced your decision to teach English in Macau?
I first heard about openings at the University of Macau through my interview with a PiA program director. I knew that I wanted to teach in China, but I wasn’t entirely sure where. So, my interviewer recommended that I look into the University’s English Language Centre. After doing some research and expressing interest to my PD in the position, I was connected with administrative staff at the Centre and interviewed with the director of the language center. It was a pretty streamlined process thanks to my PD and the University of Macau’s English Language Centre’s staff.
What were you excited and nervous about?
The idea of going to Asia to teach for one whole year was both nerve-wracking and exciting! While I had received TEFL training from PiA in the form of a workshop and online assignments before going abroad, I still felt pretty nervous about teaching English language to several sections of students who were not much younger than myself. I had also never gone to Asia before, so the idea of traveling so far from home and the accompanying logistical, visa-related work was intimidating.
At the same time, I was also incredibly excited to teach in Macau and this helped mitigate some of the nerves that I was experiencing. Recognizing that my fears stemmed from my desire to do a good job as a teacher also helped me channel my anxiety into focused efforts to better prepare myself in my role as PiA teaching fellow in Macau.
What does a typical day look like as a PiA fellow?
There is a lot of variation in roles and work positions across fellowships, so it is difficult to say what a typical day as a PiA fellow looks like. For most of my weekdays as a teacher, I taught around 3 or 4 classes of Talk Time (our university’s English language speaking seminar) and spent the rest of the time prepping class materials. I also often hosted English-speaking activities at my residential college and tutored masters and PhD students in academic writing at the writing center. After work, I balanced social commitments with friends and students. Each day was centered on teaching courses but then took on its own character outside of class.
What was your favorite activity to do in Macau as a PiA fellow?
Definitely grabbing meals with close friends! I was lucky enough to be invited to hot pot and dai pai dong dinners. I am not an incredibly outgoing person, but I learned that through opening myself up to new opportunities and friendships my experience became so much more meaningful and I better understood the lived realities of my students. I reasoned that if my students were tasked with learning English, then I ought to put in the effort to learn about the multicultural and complex history of Macau. These explorations took me to the frenetic Cotai Strip, Macau’s historic Portuguese settlements, parks, trails, Hac Sa’s black sand beaches, Coloane’s many libraries and museums, wet markets, and a variety of more obscure and less ritzy parts of the island. I loved to walk around Macau and to lose myself in its rich cultural and metropolitan tapestries.
How did your PiA fellowship change your perspective on Asia?
My perspective on Asia – in particular, China – changed dramatically because of my fellowship. Before my PiA year, most of what I knew about life in Asia, specifically China, came from stories passed down to me from my Chinese side of the family, specifically my grandparents. They told me about their childhoods in the 1930s and 1940s and their experiences emigrating to the US. During my FYE I also studied Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture with Hong 老师and these experiences further shaped my perception of life in that part of Asia. However, I didn’t know what it would be like to live there as a teacher; how tensions between the US and China would influence my travel and legal status; or how my being a mixed-raced, Asian American would affect my social life.
Over time as I found community among students and teachers in Macau, I learned that 21st century Macau’s social realities were in many ways similar to the ones that I knew at home. So many of my students reminded me of students in the US, and learning how to engage them in class was in many ways similar to how I engaged students in the US. Like American students, my students in Macau were also more well-versed than I was in social influences, Tik Tok celebrities, and internet culture, positioning me again as the young luddite teacher.
These similarities also extended into how I have developed social relationships. Growing up in a mixed Asian household, I was taught to value education, work ethic, family, and cultural humility. Many of my peers and colleagues shared these values, and these commonalities helped me build community.
So largely, my perception of relationship-building and social life in China was transformed through my PiA fellowship.
In what ways did your experience as a PIA fellow shape your future goals or perspective on the world?
I was able to put myself in situations that had challenged my conceptions of self and place during my PiA fellowship. Before going to Macau, I had for the longest time felt like I was existing in a liminal space because of my mixed identity; I realize now that belonging requires effort and time, and it is developed rather than found.
Reflecting on my own family, I hope that I have a more nuanced understanding of my Chinese heritage. While 70 years apart, my time in Macau has also felt like a conversation with my grandparents’ pasts. Through physically exploring landscapes familiar to them while also learning Cantonese and Mandarin and immersing myself in the many subcultures of Macau, Beijing, and the Guangdong region, I now have greater insight into the worlds that my grandparents once inhabited. While the worlds we experienced are vastly different, the people and relationships are not so much. My fellowship has in these ways helped me reflect upon our relationship in a new light and reminded me of the time that I am blessed enough to share with them now.
In terms of future goals, through the PiA fellowship, I have discovered that I like community-centered work and teaching! I would like to build upon my studies in music and art at CC and the non-profit work that I have done with PiA to work towards a career in the non-profit sector. I endeavor to support displaced and marginalized communities of color through organizing arts-centered initiatives that highlight the works of individuals whose experiences are obfuscated or omitted. Something transnational and collaborative ideally –a place where individuals can share and engage in artistic expression together.
In working towards this goal, I see myself applying to master’s programs in public administration or non-profit management in the near future, and I hope to again lean on those members of the CC community and PiA community who have so kindly and tirelessly supported me as a student and as an alumnus.
I cannot be grateful enough for all that CC has done to support me.
