"I never thought that I would become a teacher, not to mention a teacher who teaches Irish!"

Irish teacher Junhan Zhang speaks of her joy at becoming a teacher of Irish and recalls her time studying in Ireland

Junhan Zhang, who fondly recalls her time studying in Ireland.

Junhan Zhang has great memories of her time studying in Ireland.

We asked her to give us some of her reflections on what it felt like to live and study in Ireland.

“Being a member of the Irish Studies Centre at Beijing Foreign Studies University is a fresh start for me in every possible way and has brought so many opportunities. I never thought that I would become a teacher, not to mention a teacher who teaches Irish! Being enrolled in the programme to learn Irish in Ireland in 2018 was totally unexpected for me.

“I was planning to study media at LSE and UCLA, and this opportunity, out of nowhere, interrupted my plans and led me to Ireland.

“It was in Ireland that I gradually became acquainted with the language, the country, and indeed myself. Like many writers I battled against depression and loneliness, and rebuilt myself through trial and error. Going to your country was an opportunity for me to absorb knowledge, obtain a job, and its lingering influence gradually revealed itself after I returned to China.

“With my limited knowledge and experience, I found that I became a conduit for students to learn about Ireland and the Irish, both their language and their people.

“Though I am now far from your country, I feel closer to it, and I strive hard to access its information and resources. When preparing my classes I always integrate cultural knowledge with language points and grammatical rules.

“During my time at our Centre, I helped organise conferences, guest lectures, university cooperations, etc, and participated in welcoming and reciting Yeats’s poem with the Tánaiste Micheál Martin last year. Our Centre provided us with opportunities to participate in these activities, and I could pass on those experiences to my students.

“This February I led eight students to visit Cork and Dublin. As the journey progressed, the students gained more insights and formed their own impressions of Ireland and its people. Irish hospitality and uniqueness left them with deep impressions and cherished memories. This is where I found the so-called ‘people-to-people bond’ to be true.