歡迎 (Huānyíng)! Welcome everyone! My name is Lauren and I want to take this time to tell you a little bit about myself and how I ended up in China, in the Hong Kong special autonomous region, or Hong Kong SAR! I lived in Tampa, Florida for most of my life. I have always loved taking part in different activities and making new friends. I've always wanted to talk to everyone that I could and used to get so excited when I learned how to say "hello" in a new language. As I got older, I wanted to learn as much about the world as I could. I did well in school and eventually went to the University of Florida, majoring in English. During my studies, I loved reading about other cultures, places and people.
Eventually, I learned about linguistics, the study of how language works. I got to examine many languages and I eventually got to study Mandarin Chinese. I took two semesters and I absolutely loved learning and speaking it! Best of all, it allowed me to meet new friends and even see new movies. The more I studied and worked with people to learn this new language, the more I started to discover my love of teaching!
I decided to study more about Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) because 1) I love teaching and helping others learn new things and 2) I love languages.
