The school’s newest Mandarin teacher, Joy Yuan, has a passion for her subject. This year is her first time teaching high school and she is excited to work at Masters.

“I want to take advantage of being new here, on campus, and also being here in Dobbs Ferry. I want to know more about my students and about what they expect,” Yuan said. She is very focused on helping her students succeed.

“Right now, I want to work hard and try to get my students on board. I want them to have a sense of achievement. I want to create more ability to communicate.”

Yuan has taught college Mandarin, anthropology, history, literature, sociology and psychology before, both in Beijing and here in the United States. Compared to teaching styles in China, Yuan said, “A more progressive teaching method is in use here.”

While teaching in China, Yuan observed that most schools preferred lecturing, but American teaching methods, in her opinion, really draw the students in more, which also benefits the teachers.

“The students always surprise me,” Yuan said. She believes that her students help introduce her to new points, both in terms of themselves as individuals and culturally. “Students have a ton of different perspectives,” she said.

Ms. Yuan has a powerful connection to her culture, which crosses over into her teaching. She majored in Chinese language and literature, and has a respect for those who are able to manipulate words to express their ideas. She explained that through her Mandarin teaching she is able to learn more about her own language.

“I feel like I get to know more about the characters,” Yuan said. The characters were not initially part of her major, but through her teaching, most notably the teaching of a calligraphy class at Princeton, she has come to know more about their evolution and meaning.

Yuan moved to America from China in 2009, her parents remaining in a city near Beijing. While in America, she met her spouse, who teaches Mandarin at Fieldston.

Yuan moved to New York last August.  She loves Broadway musicals, especially Billy Elliot, and also enjoys movies, paintings, and cooking.