Joseph Svadlenka: Laureate of West Lake Friendship Award in 2018

Liu Qiaoyan

史喬恩练习书法。Joseph Svadlenka practices Chinese calligraphy.

Joseph Svadlenka had been teaching English at Number 14 Middle School in Hangzhou for 12 years by the time received West Lake Friendship Award in 2018， an accolade by Zhejiang Province in honor of internationals who contribute to the economic and social development of the province.

One highlight moment of his teaching career came in 2016 when he and dozens of his students gave English classes to the police force who provided security to G20 summit meeting in Hangzhou. For the top international event， Svadlenka wrote an English-Chinese booklet.

For the American， teaching is his top priority. He does not care about travel. In the 12 years in China， he has stayed in Hangzhou and has never visited any other cities across the country.

His tie with China started many years ago in New York when he was an English teacher of a public university. His forefathers were farmers. He majored in graphic design in college and became a teacher. He taught English as second foreign language to immigrants who needed to pick up the knowledge of English. He found Chinese among his students worked hardest. He was impressed with Chinese students in his class. When an opportunity came his way to teach English in a summer camp in Hangzhou， he did not hesitate at all.

史乔恩弹奏中国传统乐器阮。Joseph Svadlenka plays a traditional Chinese musical instrument called “Ruan”.

After the summer camp was over， he took a tour around the West Lake in downtown Hangzhou. When he stood on the top of Gem Hill overlooking the lake in beautiful tints， he decided to stay.

He got his Chinese name 史乔恩 25 years ago in New York from a Chinese teacher of calligraphy. He has been using this name since then.

One of the best senior high schools in Hangzhou， No. 14 Middle School has an international department where those who want to study overseas after senior high school get special training and preparations. Svadlenka gives oral English classes as well as writing classes. In teaching， he pursues a pragmatically academic style. He believes academic writing is the most important way to deepen ones understanding of the English language. In his opinion， one needs to maintain a chain of logic and sort out causes and effects in thinking before one can express oneself; thats the way to understand the language; learning random English words by rote doesnt fast enhance ones proficiency. He therefore doesnt tend to overestimate the knowledge of a language， which many people say opens a door to a brave new world. He thinks a language is just a tool and it functions best when it comes to special subjects such as statistics or calculus. Most of his students will go abroad for college studies after senior high school. He does not want to change the way the students think and write. All he does aims to enable them to better adapt to different cultures.

But poetry is an important part of his teaching. On his office desk are a big stack of poetry collections. His students are very active at the schools English poetry citation competitions.

In his everyday life， Svadlenka takes Chinese lessons from a private teacher at a regular interval. And he listens to traditional Chinese music. He prefers Chinese food and a Chinese restaurant near the campus is his favorite destination. More often than not， he works six days a week， usually preparing himself on Saturday for Mondays classes. He spends a lot of time grading students homework.

“Life is by no means a movie. It is happy to live day by day. It is great to keep doing what I wanted to do in the first place，” said Svadlenka.