Staff Spotlight: Jack Qi, BCS Education Center Instructor

What is your name and your job title here at the Education Center?

My name is Jack Qi, and I’m from China. I just graduated from Hunter College. I’ve been here teaching and tutoring for half a year and then also teaching as an ESL instructor for four months now.

How did you first get involved with the Ed Center? 

My classmate, Marcel, worked here in the spring of 2023. And she told me “Jack, you’d like this job; this is a good place.” So, I was interested. 

How would you describe the kind of work that you do here? What are the goals of the Ed Center?

My goal is for the end of semester – that exam scores will be higher so [students] can see improvement. [Program Director Aaron Cooper] likes telling me, “Just do your best” because we’re here to help students. Many of my students come after work, or they are pregnant, or they have families, so they have their own life. But still they would like to dedicate two hours to come to the Center time after time, day after day, and spend time with me. I know they’re tired, but I do my best to recycle and repeat everything to make sure they know something when they get out of BCS – so they can speak English competently, and they can understand.

Is that the main goal with most of the teaching – just basic English instruction?

Yes, it’s very beginner – kind of like an ESL class. It’s the baby steps. Some of [the students] have been here for 13 years, so they know some English and just never got a chance to be educated in the United States. But many of them are in the baby stage, where they came to the class speaking Spanish, speaking Korean, speaking French, but they got something, and now they can understand something.

Are many of your students recent immigrants, then?

There have been more families, like refugees, who live in the local community here.There are around seven family shelters, and we also have this kind of sponsorship with shelters.

What about Sunset Park is special to you? How have you liked living here, teaching here, and connecting with this neighborhood?

Fifth Avenue is a Spanish community – they speak Spanish – but on Eighth Avenue, there is the Chinese community. That’s the main population of this class: Spanish speaking, a few Chinese speaking. They come from the shelter. Some others speak Creole French, and we have some Russian speakers and some Arabic speakers. 

What’s the best part of working here?

I can see when [students] have improved. They’re so happy when they come, and they try their best to be here. With tests, I can see huge progress – huge progress for each student. 

What challenges have you had in this position?

I think the difficulty is because I’m new. This is actually my first job in teaching, so I appreciate Aaron giving me this opportunity. I’m still building my teaching style. I didn’t get a chance in school to do an internship; I went straight to a real job. I care about what the students think and their opinions. I want to find out what’s their weakness and what’s my weakness and improve on both sides. Everything from the curriculum to the lesson planning. Also, my pronunciation. I came here and thought, “Oh, it’s so bad,” but now I’m improving it through teaching.