她 爱它! （She loves it!）
With a plane tickets in hand, luggage rolling behind them, and a new life in mind, 25-year-old Alice Nan a tiny little Asian woman and her husband embarked on their journey to America. The 7,949-mile trip was well worth the life that she would soon achieve. Nan, seven months pregnant, waddled through the Stillwater airport and knew that her life had changed forever. “I was very excited,” She said. “It was a brand new world, I had never been out of my country and I was very excited when I saw all of the American people.” Even though Nan came to America for a better education, she didn’t know what she would do. All she wanted was a stable job, especially since she was about to give birth to her daughter. “I started working as a teacher’s assistant,” Nan said. “I helped in ESL, and I knew right away that I wanted to be a teacher and work with students.” After completing her degree at The University of Oklahoma, Nan became a math teacher at a local school. But when a job opened teaching her first language and her culture to the students she wanted to work with, she pounced on it. Everyone who has had Nan is very glad that she took the job and decided to stay at Norman High School instead of moving to Norman North High School. “Ms. Nan is one of the funniest teachers in the world,” said sophomore Josh Bryant with a smile on his face. “She does something every day to make me laugh.” Even though she enjoyed teaching math, nothing can compare to teaching Chinese. Nan spices up the lesson plan by incorporating music, food, movies and games. To NHS students all of these things are different and exciting. Getting to watch movies from a different country and culture makes Nan’s class more popular each year. Many students discover during the first year that learning Chinese is very difficult. “Chinese is not easy to learn,” Nan said. “Unlike English which is formed by letters, Chinese uses characters with tones which students are not familiar with.” Because of Nan’s teaching style, many students have caught on to the language. “Ms. Nan is a really good teacher,” says Bradley Quy. “She makes learning Chinese fun and easy.”
Other students even went on a trip to China over the summer with her during the summer of 2009. Nan said the students were very good, and they learned a lot. She also said that after the trip every single one of the students loved to learn about China and definitely learned a lot while they were there. When they were in China, they attended a Chinese high school which is a lot different from here. The three students had the option to either learn Kung Fu or how to play an instrument. The trip was a learning experience for all of the students. Unlike here, in China they teach children a second language early on. Nan started learning English in the seventh grade but says now they are teaching their children English starting in third grade. Nan says learning this language early opened her mind to a different world and broadened her dreams. When Alice Nan got off of her plane in Stillwater and took her first look around, she instantly fell in love with Oklahoma. The kindness of people at the airport made her feel a strong emotional attachment. She started out in Oklahoma and now, 50 years later, she finds herself still in the state she first fell in love with. 她 爱 它！(She loves it!)