2021 Summer Intern: Tom
Tom Connelly interned remotely for AllSet Learning in July and August, 2021. Unfortunately, COVID was still an issue at that time, so aside from an in-person orientation, most of Tom’s internship was remote, with plenty of WeChat conversations and video conferences when needed.
As a student in Nanjing University’s Teaching Chinese as Speakers of Other Languages (汉语国际教育) masters program, Tom brought a high level of Chinese to his internship, matched with an unquenchable enthusiasm for learning Chinese and an analytical eye for all things pedagogical. In short, Tom was a perfect fit!
This is how Tom described his experience (although we’ve had to redact a few parts that we’re not quite ready to announce yet):
First off, I would like to thank AllSet Learning for giving me the chance to do an internship this summer. I appreciate the the help and guidance that John, Li Jiong, and Ma Lihua provided me with. In large part thanks to their help, I was able to gain some valuable experience that compliments my academic studies at Nanjing University. My class work so far has focused on theory and knowledge of the Chinese language combined with teaching techniques. At AllSet, my internship work focused much more on practical and useful ways to help students learn. Put simply, this summer I learned how to provide students with the knowledge they need to understand what they are studying so that they can go use Chinese. This was a very good learning experience for me, because it helped me see the difference between researching Chinese and studying how to teach Chinese (what I’ve done in school), to actually experiencing how Chinese is taught and what is necessary to teach a specific set of learners.
The majority of my work this summer was focused around the development of a [secret new resource] that AllSet Learning will use to [conduct secret plans]…. I look forward to the launch of the [secret new resource] so that I can see the project in its entirety, and so that more students can have a pleasant experience learning Chinese!
The summer flew by for me this year and in large part it’s because I put a lot of time into the development of the [secret new resource]. I gained so much from doing so, from Chinese language knowledge, to teaching, to website development, to running a business - that’s a lot! In large part it’s because of the great people and new friends I made at AllSet. So, once again thanks so much John, Li Jiong, and Ma Lihua, I look forward to keeping in touch in the future!
Tom, Connelly, on the job!
Great work, Tom, especially on the [new secret resource]. We’ll see you in Shanghai soon (or maybe Nanjing!), and good times will be had by all.
July 2022 UPDATE: the “secret new resource” Tom worked on is the Chinese Vocabulary Wiki, now public!
To learn about what other interns have worked on at AllSet Learning, browse our internship archives.