The Beginnings of an Academic Career

Today I met with one of my students face-to-face for the first time this semester.

Let me unpack that sentence.

I might start with the word "students." I have students—actual university-attending, Chinese majoring, real-life pupils. I have students because, while in Taiwan over the summer, I was offered a job as a Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Malta. I moved to Malta in September and took up my post in October. This semester, I am teaching two courses: 1) Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature, and 2) Reading and Translating Chinese. Between these two classes I have five students. One young woman is in both classes; in fact, she is the only student in her year and, as such, is the only one taking the third-year course, Reading and Translating Chinese. She is also the one I met with today.

Why do I mention meeting said student face-to-face? Because it is 2020, the year of the Coronavirus pandemic. I may have moved to Malta to teach synchronously, but for now, we are keeping our distance and teaching online. I do not mind distance learning. It offers some unique opportunities for students to engage in tasks at their own pace. As an instructor, I find it slightly more challenging than I had expected in terms of preparation and technical savvy, but there was bound to be a learning curve for my first semester as a proper lecturer no matter what. All in all, I think my students and I are handling things pretty well. That said, I know that they miss meeting in person because three of the five have requested face-to-face appointments for our mid-semester individual check-in.

One downside to online teaching is that I do not have as many chances to see my colleagues as I might have had if we were all on campus most days. This is the biggest difference between this international move compared to others I have made. In the past, I was always a student, and, as such, I was part of a cohort of peers whenever I started at a new university. Even though I have joined a lively (and young) faculty—all but one of us is under 40 years old—I am more keenly aware of being on my own with respect to making friends and networking. I think this isolation has contributed to a slightly bigger sense of imposter syndrome compared to when I was doing my doctorate. (Don't worry, it's not an extreme case!) I am dealing with the issue by reaching out to colleagues to meet for various reasons, whether to grab a drink or to do some sight-seeing together. I have also made sure to attend our departmental seminars. I have enjoyed getting to know everyone and look forward to when we can see each other more frequently.

Considering that I received my PhD in May of this year, I truly feel lucky, blessed even, to be given the opportunity to take up the role of lecturer at this stage of my career. I am aware of how competitive the academic job market is these days, especially in Western countries. The pandemic made planning for the future even more fraught with uncertainty. I went from New Zealand to Taiwan on a prayer. I had applied for the post in Malta right before leaving. A few months later, I was told that there would be no interviews because of the virus. I had made up my mind at that point to find a teaching job in Taiwan. I even interviewed with a private Buddhist high school to be their social studies teacher and was about to sign the contract over the Dragon Boat Festival when I received an email inviting me to interview with Malta. I still cannot believe how things turned out in just a matter of a months!

Tomorrow I have my second face-to-face meeting with a student. I wonder what she wants to write for her final paper...