Welcome to Guangzhou: New Faculty 2018

Here’s a surprising statement: teachers are people too. With personalities and preferences! Unbelievable, right? What about our new teachers? What are they like?

New to the Learning Support department of AISG, Mr. Padden has lived in Spokane, Washington; Oklahoma; Las Vegas; and, most recently, Leipzig, Germany. In high school, he was a quiet, baseball-loving “good kid” who aspired to be a physical therapist. He later became interested in teaching, leading him to where he is today. During our interview, I asked him about his pet peeves. Without a hint of hesitation, he claimed that students not putting their phones away is his main pet peeve, with messy people coming in a close second.

As an enthusiastic traveler, Mr. Padden has done some exciting things on his journeys. In a trip to Cape Town, Mr. Padden went skydiving and went swimming with the sharks. He has also been to Norway and seen the breath-taking Northern Lights, an experience he described as “pretty cool”. Mr. Padden made the decision to come to Guangzhou due to the lure of Asia and its many cultures. Conveniently, he also thought that AISG looked like a nice school. At this point, it seems like we have not let him down: Mr. Padden is enjoying the food in Guangzhou, says the AISG community has been very friendly, and admires how “all the kids [are] dedicated to their studies”.

Meanwhile, in the Health and PE department, this is the third teaching post in China for newest addition Mr. Brooks. Having previously taught in Hangzhou as well as Beijing, he is not new to humidity, but still finds Guangzhou’s persistently damp weather tough to get used to. Otherwise, however, he “love[s] being around water”. Scuba diving and underwater hockey? He’s done them all.

Back at home in Fargo, North Dakota, Mr. Brooks was a swimmer, band member and Eagle Scout. As someone who cannot make any remotely healthy-to-listen-to music with instruments, I also found it unbelievable that he can play both the clarinet and the tenor saxophone. As of recently, Mr. Brooks seems to have two main things he likes doing in his free time: spending time with family and staying active. Over the summer, he managed to do both while traveling around China with his brother.

Ms. Beabout is our new Innovation Coach here at AISG. From being a basketball player and Girl Scout growing up in a farming community in southern Illinois, her aspirations have grown with her and changed substantially. She originally wanted to be a vet or marine biologist, but suddenly picked up an unexpected interest and talent in business. Eventually, in an overseas post in Japan, she fell in love with teaching and decided to stick with that. Ms. Beabout, who has previously worked at Shekou,  Shenzhen, came to Guangzhou with excitement for the possibilities ahead. And what does she think about AISG so far? “It’s great! Everybody’s been so helpful.”

For her, the best part of traveling to new places is learning about the culture and people there. For instance, she said that meeting Aboriginals in Australia was very interesting and memorable. Overall, Ms. Beabout is a very optimistic person, but if there is one thing that really annoys her, it would be “misinformation” and “people talking about things that they haven’t checked to make sure are accurate”, especially on social media platforms.