When Jenna Gannon graduated from college in May, she never thought she would find herself teaching on the other side of the world.

Gannon is a 2009 graduate of Knoch High School who went on to receive a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Mercyhurst University in Erie.

While going through her school e-mail, Gannon saw a job opening in China.

“I found out about the opportunity through an e-mail that one of my professors sent out in early June for all recent education major graduates.” Gannon said. “I e-mailed back and said that I would like more information.”

The e-mail was for an opportunity to work for 10 months in China through Dipont Education, a company that places students and teachers in other countries through various programs. Gannon received approval and a recommendation from her former professor and then sent Dipont her resume.

“Jenna always struck me as a very bright and involved student with a clear focus on becoming an excellent teacher,” said Leanne Roberts, associate dean and education department chairman at Mercyhurst. “While I know Jenna was not intentionally preparing professionally or personally to head to China upon graduation, when the opportunity surfaced, she found that she was ready on both fronts.”

Gannon also had to show how interested she was in the teaching position through an informal phone conversation with a Dipont representative. After the phone call, Gannon was offered a position teaching in China.

Gannon had always wanted to study abroad while in college, but it never fit into her class schedule. Now when the opportunity showed itself she was not going to let it pass.

“It was almost like China was my chance to make up for not being able to do that,” Gannon said. “And it sounded like an adventure.”

She decided teaching in China would be a great experience for when she returned to teach in the United States.

“I was nervous about leaving home and going halfway around the world for a year, especially to a country where I didn't speak the language,” Gannon said.

Gannon was able to relax when she learned she would be teaching with two former classmates.

“It helped that two other Mercyhurst grads were also very interested in going to China, one of which was my roommate while we were in college, so I wouldn't be going over alone,” Gannon said.

Gannon and the other teachers made the move to Ningbo, a port city on the eastern coast of China.

“I live in the Jiangbei district of Ningbo, close to the Yong River,” Gannon said.

Gannon and the other teachers have been in China since Labor Day, setting up a teaching curriculum for the students she will be teaching at the end of the month.

“We will be teaching 3- to 6-year-old students, which are preschool and kindergarten ages,” Gannon said. “We'll be teaching them English, but not the typical U.S. style learn-the-alphabet-English.”

The teachers' goal is to have the student able to communicate in English. The children also will be taught math, science and art.

“The program that I am involved in is Enreach Kids,” Gannon said. “It's brand new, so we're helping to get it started.”

Through the program, Gannon and the other teachers will speak English to the students.

“The focus of the program is English immersion, so we will have a teaching assistant who is fluent in both English and Mandarin, but pretty much everything should be taught in English,” Gannon said.

According to Gannon, she was taught to make the subjects interesting to help students better understand and retain information. However, this is not what she is finding when she talks to people in China.

“According to some of the Chinese people that I have met here, in China school is much more of what we would probably think of as the old-style 'traditional' teaching,” Gannon said. “The students sit at their desks; hands folded, and listen to the teacher.”

Though Gannon admits this is just hearsay. She has not started teaching and doesn't know if that is how it will be.

“There is a very big emphasis on education here, and the program that I am working with is actually an after-school center, so we will have different teaching hours than the actual school day,” she said.

Gannon and the other teachers will get the students after they have already put in a full school day. She says students will also go to the center on the weekends.

For children in China, school is year round.

“Instead of changing grades at the start of a new school year after summer vacation, Chinese students level up at the beginning of the calendar year,” Gannon said.

When Gannon is not teaching, she hopes to travel around China.

“I definitely want to see some of the places around Ningbo and Shanghai, but you can't go to China without seeing The Great Wall,” Gannon said.

She would also like to travel to Hong Kong. Though she does admit this could be difficult with the language barrier.

Gannon does not know Mandarin and that has made actions such as taking a taxi or eating out quite difficult.

“Most of the people we work with speak English, so that is not a problem, but getting around is hard,” Gannon said. “Little things that we took for granted at home, like going to a restaurant and ordering food, is all of a sudden much more of a challenge here.”

Living in the city is a change for a girl who grew up in Saxonburg.

“I tried to mentally prepare myself as much as possible for a culture shock and do a lot of research before I left, so I think that helped,” she said. “I think it also helped that I've never lived in a city before, so everything was new to me, not just the culture.

“There are over 7 million people in this city,” Gannon said. “It's hard for me to wrap my head around that big of a number, coming from Saxonburg and then Erie.”

She says acclimating has been easy because of the support she received from her family and teachers.

Gannon's mother, Paula Gannon, said, she was surprised her daughter decided to go to China.

“She has always tended to stay closer to home and within her comfort zone,” Paula said. “However, for the last few years she has expressed the desire to have an adventure.”

Paula Gannon is worried about her daughter being so far away, but researching the area and speaking to Gannon regularly has helped ease the worries.

“I am so proud of Jenna,” she said. “She has always been a very giving and helpful person, and has always had a special understanding and rapport with children.”

For now, Gannon is focused on her time in China and what she hopes to accomplish there.

“Right now, my short-term goals are to learn some of the basic phrases of the language so we can get around a little easier, make a list of all the places where we want to sightsee, and start getting things ready for the new classrooms,” Gannon said. “I can't wait to meet the students.”