For Dr. Lin Lin, teaching Mandarin to Thomas Metcalf Laboratory School students is about more than grammar. Lin, who holds a doctorate in political science and taught in the University of Pittsburgh’s East Asian Department prior to joining the Metcalf faculty, is dedicated to culturally responsive teaching. “I want to make it so the students are not just learning the material, but also feel that they can relate to it,” she said.
Lin’s holistic approach to teaching was bolstered by the Metcalf Innovative Teaching and Service Grant she received in March 2022. The grant is made possible through the Erma Imboden Memorial Award, which honors Imboden’s distinguished Metcalf teaching career.
Thanks to grant funds, students entering Lin’s classroom are now met with authentic cultural materials to help them better understand the world. The additional resources also enabled Lin to start the first Metcalf Asian Heritage Festival, where Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Indian cultural expressions took center stage.
Lin regularly challenges her students to honor diversity while seeking connectivity. In one assignment, students profiled an Asian American person, identifying shared and diverging traits. The project culminated in a presentation, spoken in Mandarin, and a side-by-side photo collage.
Lin’s students also talk about current events in her classroom, where making mistakes is encouraged. “I learned English when I was in middle school,” said Lin, who speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and Chaoshanese. “I want students to know it’s OK to have an accent. If you’re not afraid of making a mistake, you can learn from it.”
In everything she does, Lin strives to give her students freedom to explore new things. Lin recognizes the role donor funding plays.
“Private support is so important because it brings endless opportunity and lets students explore things outside of regular teaching,” she said. “That means they’ll participate and observe more. Without private funding, the school cannot give students this exposure to find out what they’re good at.”
