Hello, my name is Ann Liggett and I am a new teacher at the Tampa Bay Chinese School for the school year beginning Fall 2011. I am very pleased to be nominated to teach Early Development Class Section B, in which many students would have limited exposure to the Chinese language. So we will start from very basic concepts and have fun learning as much as possible about the Chinese language and culture.

I have been speaking Chinese for over 35 years and lived in Taiwan for approximately 5 years, much of that time living with Chinese students and then relatives who did not speak English to me. I began studying Chinese in college at the State University of New York at Binghamton. I was frustrated learning French and thought I had no language ability, but tried Chinese. The classes were small and the teacher used a more interactive teaching method that seemed to enable me to learn. I hope to use this method in my teaching. After a basic class in Mandarin, I was given the opportunity to attend the Full Year Asian Language Concentration Program at Cornell University. We studied Chinese language exclusively for two semesters, all day. The emphasis was on speaking and thank goodness I was able to pick up quite a bit during that year. I returned to SUNY to complete my Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and took classes in Chinese History and basic Classical Chinese. I took an examination and was accepted to the Inter-University Language and Literature Center in Taipei in 1975. This Center is commonly known as the ‘Stanford Center’ as the administrative offices were located at Stanford University. Several well-known universities contribute to the Center which is now located in Beijing. I lived in a girl’s dormitory with seven roommates who furthered my progress in speaking immensely and taught me much about living closely with many people and how to listen carefully to various accents. While living in Taiwan, I taught English to children in classrooms and also at their homes. I decided during the years studying overseas that I did not wish to pursue an advanced degree in Literature and remained overseas, teaching English and serving as an English language Secretary for an organization which can be compared to a Chamber of Commerce. I married a local man and we raised two children who should speak Mandarin better than they do. I rarely spoke English to my husband. I have taught Chinese to small groups of adults in Atlanta GA and have taught taiji chuan for a number of years – this takes a sensitively to the needs and ability of the students which will bring to my classroom. I have recently moved to Tampa, enjoy living here immensely, and have confidence I will enjoy teaching your children as well.