While we’re talking about teachers, 8asians.com wrote about a recent LA Times article on one Zhao Yan Feng. Zhao’s journey to America began in northern China as a university instructor.

A partnership between the College Board in the U.S. and Hanban, China’s language council, had selected him and other teachers to bring Mandarin to American students.

For Zhao, his assignment was in Los Angeles. He probably imagined Hollywood, buxom starlets, palm trees and sunshine all year long. Well, one out of four isn’t too bad. Zhao landed at Dorsey High in South Central Los Angeles. Dorsey High, “where test scores are well below the state and national averages, two-thirds of the students live near the poverty line and most have had scant exposure to Chinese culture.”

Mission, impossible? Good luck to Zhao. He sounds dedicated and determined, waking up at 6:30 to catch two buses and make it to school by 7:45. Once he arrives, he teaches to ambivalent students. Over the course of the school quarter though, according to the LA Times, students start warming up to him and really get into the lessons.

Reminds me of Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver. A teacher helps students realize their potential and empowers them. That would be the happy ending. Of course, I’m a cynic. I hope this doesn’t end up like the other Edward James Olmos movie, American Me. The one where he gets shanked by five gangbangers and is thrown from the second story to his death.

Pic: 8asians.com

In L.A., his own wall of China [LA Times]