Spring 2007 - College of Education - Michigan State University
Spring 2007 - College of Education - Michigan State University
Spring 2007 - College of Education - Michigan State University
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Li reads a book to students gathered in the expansive<br />
library <strong>of</strong> Averill Elementary School in Lansing.<br />
Cult<br />
When Gu<strong>of</strong>ang Li<br />
was a young girl, her<br />
eldest brother passed on to<br />
her a gift that would ultimately<br />
change her life.<br />
The present was a big, old<br />
radio. While she could have<br />
prized the gift as a way to listen to<br />
pop music like most youth <strong>of</strong> her<br />
generation, what most fascinated<br />
Li were not the catchy songs but<br />
the short-wave news broadcasts<br />
direct from Voice <strong>of</strong> America radio.<br />
In the beginning, it was less about<br />
the context because she could only understand<br />
a few words. But soon,<br />
the small girl from a rural<br />
village deep inside central<br />
China became fascinated<br />
by the English language,<br />
listening intently to VOA’s<br />
slow and deliberate pronunciation<br />
style that helped<br />
her follow along.<br />
“It was almost like it<br />
represented another world<br />
outside,” Li recalled <strong>of</strong><br />
knowledge that crackled<br />
forth from the radio as<br />
she listened inside her<br />
mud-brick country<br />
home, located near the<br />
banks <strong>of</strong> the Yangtze<br />
River. “It connected me<br />
to the world beyond my<br />
village. I had never been<br />
anywhere, had never traveled—and<br />
yet here was this<br />
12<br />
new educator