Sitting down with Madame Peng, new French teacher at BHS

By Brian Conlon

What is your name and what are you teaching this year?

My name is Yuxia Peng and I teach French for all grades.

What are some of your interests and hobbies outside of school?

I like to run. I like all the sports, but I’m not good at all of them. So, I try to go jogging every day, if not every other day, just to stay healthy. Besides that, I like to read. I like all kinds of books and I read a lot of newspapers too. I’m currently reading one of the books written by one of my colleagues [Ms. Boivin]. She has published three books and they are very interesting. They are definitely [teenager] friendly and have a lot of culture. I’m enjoying it.

What made you want to be a teacher?

I moved to the US six years ago, so I grew up in China and had all of my schooling in China. I was always a good student, and in high school, my teacher told me that I would make a great teacher and could make an impact on the kids. [Then,] I started college and I took French and was doing brilliant. So, it’s always been my teachers encouraging me to go forward. My parents, at that time, didn't have that many opportunities to go to school and move forward. I was very thankful for my teachers, that’s why I wanted to become one of them. It’s kind of a natural process. I really haven’t thought about other careers!

Tell me about your experience studying French.

What I’m proud of is to show the kids that even if French is not their mother tongue, they can be very good at it, they can excel at it, they could become a French teacher or a French journalist. I started later than them, I started in college. French is my second language so I kind of know [and relate to] my students more because when I see their difficulty, those were my difficulties when I was learning a foreign language. 

What made you specifically want to teach French over other subjects or languages?

When I was in high school, I was not very good at English, but I thought that English as a foreign language really helped me to enlarge all my broad knowledge and it was kind of like a window opened for me to go forward, to see the world. At that time, long long ago, China was not very open to the world, but it was starting to open to the world. Compared to the other subjects, language gives you more hope and inspires you and you can see that it’s a tool. Even if you haven't decided your future or your college major, you can [use this] time in high school to learn the language, because it's a tool to help you to open your doors. If you study chemistry, or if you study math in college, language will always help you.

Where did you go to college in China?

I went to my undergraduate school at a very good college called Xiamen University; it's on the east coast of China. Then I went to graduate school in one of the top 3 universities in China which is called Fudan University and is in Shanghai. 

Would you be willing to share where you have taught in previous years?

I graduated from Fudan University and when I got my masters degree, there was an opportunity to become a teacher in the same college, so I applied and got it. Then, going forward, because of its rating, they require you to have a PhD. So I had a full time job there while I was pursuing a PhD in French Literature. So, that was a hectic time for me, but I survived! I taught nine years of college French there while pursuing my PhD. I went to France for several stays for my research. 

Six years ago, my husband, who is an engineer, was relocated to the US. So, as a family, we moved with him to Tucson, Arizona. At that time, I had many restrictions on my VISA, which didn’t allow me to work as a normal [citizen] in the US. This is so complicated about immigration stuff; I couldn’t teach in college because of this restriction. So, I started to teach in a private French school called “Alliance Francaise” which has all different branches around the world. The Boston branch is the biggest US branch, and it offers French classes to all kinds of people. I taught there for two years and the majority of my students were retired people and adults. So, to summarize, I worked eleven years as a French teacher before coming to BHS and my students [have always been] adults.

What has been your biggest challenge so far?

My biggest challenge this year is adapting myself to teach high school kids [rather than adults].  I know how to teach language, so the biggest challenge has just been adapting myself to my new students, who are kind of “fun-loving” in the classroom, and some maybe need more scaffolds. 

What have you enjoyed most so far about teaching here at BHS?

I think so far I have most enjoyed my students. When I had my adult students, they were very motivated, they were very serious.We were really focused on the language. But, here at BHS, I’ve enjoyed my students because they bring more ideas and they are more creative and they are sharing with me their joy and their friendship. And we have a very diverse community, I really love that. I always say that our classes are “international classes” which is an asset for all of us. So yeah, I’ve enjoyed them a lot.

Is there anything new that you’re looking forward to at Burlington that you haven’t experienced yet?

I’m very excited to celebrate all the holidays, like American holidays and all kinds of cultural holidays with all of my students. I hadn’t met so many people from all these countries so I am looking forward to celebrating their own holidays with them and learning more about this cultural stuff. I really value and appreciate Burlington as a diverse community.

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Well, I am the advisor of the French club this year and I want to say that all students outside of my French classes are welcome, because we are not doing academic learning, we are doing more fun stuff. Sometimes we do crafts, paper cutouts, coloring. We will be having a French breakfast gathering the first week of November, Thursday morning. So, why not come early and enjoy our French breakfast! We explore the French and francophone cultures, which means anywhere that speaks French, so that includes Canada, Haiti, Morocco, Algeria. The French club explores all these cultures and does art and painting, and anyone is welcome.