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Todd Forsyth teaches students at Peking University as part of Brigham Young University’s China Teachers Program.

Courtesy Todd and Sherae Forsyth

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Diane Thayer is shown with a group of students at Xi’an Jiaotong University while she works as a teacher as part of the Brigham Young University China Teachers Program. Thayer participated in the program nearly 35 years after her mother, Helen Jonsson, served as a teacher in the program in 1989.

Courtesy Diane Thayer

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Helen Jonsson, center, is shown with her class in Qingdao, China, circa 1989. Jonsson was one of the first teachers to participate in Brigham Young University’s China Teachers Program.

Courtesy Diane Thayer

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Sherae Forsyth, left, is shown with a student in China. Sherae and her husband, Todd Forsyth, are the deputy directors of Brigham Young University's China Teachers Program.

Courtesy Todd and Sherae Forsyth

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The year 2024 marks a big anniversary for an important bridge between Brigham Young University and China: It’s been 35 years since the China Teachers Program began sending English-speaking teachers to Chinese universities.

The China Teachers Program, which is hosted by BYU’s David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, is an academic service opportunity that has, over the past 35 years, sent more than 1,500 teachers to China. It differs from other programs that send teachers to China because, rather than sending college students and young adults to teach in Chinese schools, the China Teachers Program sends adults in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to Chinese universities to teach English classes or classes related to their professional experience.

History of the program

“In the late 1980s, BYU was eager to develop more consistent and sustained relationships in China,” said Jeff Ringer, associate international vice president of BYU and director of the China Teachers Program. “In discussions with senior leaders, the decision was made to have the Kennedy Center lead out on a program of professional academic service linking BYU with partner universities in China. The first group of approximately 25 teachers was selected, trained and sent to China in the fall of 1989.”

Jens and Helen Jonsson were in that first group from 1989; they were sent to the city of Qingdao. Their daughter, Diane Thayer, who now teaches with the China Teachers Program herself, shared this excerpt from their journal:

“We had a wonderful experience. First, we made friends which will last a lifetime. Second, the cultural experience was most educational. Third, travel to various sites throughout China was extremely interesting. And fourth and most importantly, we had a rewarding teaching experience; we felt the students wanted to learn from us, and, indeed, we were party to a substantial metamorphosis during our stay.”

As China increasingly opened to the world, they were eager for native English speakers to come teach, and the program grew; at one point, as many as 75 teachers per year were going to China through BYU.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed all that. With travel interrupted around the world, the program was forced to cut down to just a few teachers who taught remotely. Now that borders have reopened, the program is looking forward to getting teachers to China again.

“We’re trying to rebuild back up to those numbers so that we can continue to build bridges,” said Todd Forsyth. He and his wife, Sherae, are the deputy directors of the program.

“It’s something that our partner universities really feel strongly about as well,” Todd Forsyth said. “They feel, as we do, that as relations between our two countries are strained, it’s more important than ever that we have this kind of academic interaction to make sure that people on both sides of the ocean know that there are very, very wonderful people on both sides.”

Teaching in China

Participating in the China Teachers Program doesn’t require any Chinese speaking skills as all classes are taught in English. Teachers simply need to have a bachelor’s degree in any subject and speak English natively. They also must not have dependent children still at home and cannot be older than 63.

Though the China Teachers Program is sometimes referred to as an academic service opportunity, it’s not a purely volunteer program. Teachers receive a monthly stipend — generally enough to cover food, transportation and basic needs — and many universities offer teachers free housing at apartments near campus.

A bridge between BYU and China

“Every trip I take to China,” Ringer said, “I meet someone who was taught and influenced by our teachers. It has also been a life-changing experience for our teachers.”

Thayer was deeply affected by her parents’ stories about their time in China. Thirty years later, she applied for the program and was assigned to Xi’an Jiaotong University.

“I have fallen in love with my students! It’s been amazing to see how much the students value the opportunity to learn English and the culture of the USA,” Thayer said. “I have had many students tell me that I am the first American they have ever met.”

The Forsyths taught in Beijing for three years before moving to their current positions. Sherae remembers going to see a doctor who asked what she was doing in China. When she explained that she was teaching at Peking University for the China Teachers Program, the woman was astounded and asked whether she knew Carol Otteson, the BYU teacher who she had learned English from many years ago. “Carol had not only been this doctor’s favorite English teacher,” Sherae said, “but this wonderful previous BYU China teacher had touched this doctor’s life deeply.”

“Because of modern technology, you’re able to stay in touch with people,” Todd Forsyth said. “I still have students that reach out and say, ‘I’m going to grad school, would you write a recommendation for me?’ Or, ‘Could you look over my application?'”

It’s through connections and experiences like these that the program continues to build bridges between BYU and China. “The program is the most sustained relationship that BYU has in China,” Ringer said. “It has provided an incredibly rewarding experience for our teachers and a real academic service for their students.”

Want to teach in China?

“I now understand why my parents told me that teaching and living in China was one of the best things they ever did in their lives,” Thayer said. “I would recommend this program to anyone seeking to make a difference in the lives of the Chinese people and enrich their own lives in the process.”

Todd Forsyth said many of their teachers end up staying with the program for several years because of how meaningful they find it. “They do it because it’s a wonderful experience,” he said. “They find that China changes them, rather than the other way around, and they come home a changed person. It’s really something to grow to love people that you didn’t know before, halfway around the world.”

If you’re interested in learning more, visit kennedy.byu.edu/chinateachers, e-mail china_teachers@byu.edu or call 801-422-5321.

Emily Nelson is the editorial and content coordinator with the Kennedy Center for International Studies at Brigham Young University.

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