Mrs. Barker’s Travel and World Experiences

Last year, in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Emily Sue Barker became the newest English teacher at Oak Hill High School. Since not many people know much about Mrs. Barker, I took it upon myself to get to know more about her, specifically some of her college experiences because college is constantly on the mind of a high school senior like myself. So I sat down with Mrs. Barker one afternoon and here’s what I learned: 

As our conversation began, Mrs. Barker explained that it all started when she was walking back from a public speaking class her senior year. It was then that she realized that she wanted to be a teacher. She confessed that it just hit her, “like a bolt of lightning” and that was all it took to start her journey of pursuing a life of education. 

In her first year of college in 2009, Mrs. Barker was only 18 when she came across a flyer for an international language program. This program was for college students who had the opportunity to teach abroad in a foreign country. Although many students don’t take advantage of these opportunities to broaden their world views, it was obvious to Mrs. Barker that she had to sign up. With many countries to choose from such as Ukraine, Mexico, and Russia to name a few, Mrs. Barker decided she would be going to China. 

“Why did you choose to teach in China?” I asked her. After a moment of hesitation, Mrs. Barker recalled with a bit of amusement that she chose China because it was the only location where she would be living in an apartment as opposed to living with a host family. “A host family kinda freaked me out a little bit,” she admitted. She went on to explain that she was worried about communicating with a host family since she didn’t know any Chinese prior to her trip and that it would be hard for a picky eater like herself to be expected to eat whatever the family provided her with. Although sometimes she wishes she stayed with a host family to see the culture from the inside, she was happy with her decision to stay in a dorm with the other people in her program. However, living in a dorm did not save her from her picky eating habits. 

Mrs. Barker told me that the cafeteria food provided was challenging for her. Oftentimes there would be unidentified meat that turned out to be frog legs or a fish head. The language barrier also didn’t help her when it came to deciphering what kind of steamed buns were available. While meat buns were great, vegetable buns were gross and since she couldn’t read which was which, it became a guessing game. Another thing that made eating in China difficult while she was there was the bird flu. According to Mrs. Barker, poultry was the best meat provided and because of the bird flu, there would no longer be any poultry provided on her trip. While poultry was scarce, rice surely wasn’t. Rice would be served at each meal including at breakfast in the form of rice porridge. Although Mrs. Barker liked rice; she was sick of it by the end of her stay in China. The food wasn’t all bad though. Cafeteria food could be unappealing, but the street food was great! Dumplings and squid on a stick were some examples of delicious food Mrs. Barker would get to make up for the absence of many things she was used to such as cheese, milk, and fast food. 

Besides food, there were a lot of other things Mrs. Barker had to adjust to. Squat toilets were one of these things. These types of toilets are basically like a hole in the floor and to use it you have to squat rather than sit. Mrs. Barker even shared a horror story where she had to use one on a bus and accidentally stepped in it and being on a bus, the ending was not pretty. Something else Mrs. Barker had never experienced before were motor taxis. The motorcycle taxis were a cheap form of transportation available to her and the other program participants while they were there in addition to other public transportation like buses. However, they always had to ride with someone else from the program. This usually wasn’t an issue, especially since they all had cards with the school’s address on it to easily communicate where they wanted to go, but Mrs. Barker told me that, “One time there were only three of us at the store and the buses stopped running sooner than we anticipated and so motor taxi was our only option… and we were like ‘will you take all three of us?’” Luckily for them they were all able to get a ride without being separated but with four people on one motorcycle, the girl on the back was pretty terrified. 

Besides squat toilets, motor taxis, and unfamiliar food, I would have thought the language barrier would have been one of the biggest challenges faced in a foreign country. When I asked Mrs. Barker about this, however, she said that not knowing the language actually wasn’t too much of a hindrance for her. Since she was living there, she was able to pick up the basics (like asking for no onions with her meal) and because she was there through a teaching abroad program, there was always someone there to help her out if she needed it. The big cities were also very English friendly when it came to menus, signs, and even some people who spoke English since it was such a big tourist area. If all else failed, there was always google translate to save the day. 

After the trip was over, she successfully finished college and even got married. However, her days of teaching English in China were not over. Mrs. Barker and her husband decided that they wanted to go back to China through the same program. Her husband had never been to China before, but since Mrs. Barker had been through this program once before, she was eligible to become a head teacher. This would mean that she would be going through the same program except this time she would be leading the student teachers and helping them during their time in China. Although Mrs. Barker had already done this once before, it was a lot different now that she was in charge of six student teachers (including her husband). She admitted that she was nervous and that it could be stressful at times. One stressful experience she had was at the beginning of the trip when her key snapped in the building where the teachers were supposed to do their training. Since Mrs. Barker was in charge, she had to improvise and teach outside that day. When I asked her if she ever felt like she was on her own and didn’t have help this time around she said that she still had help, it was just further away this time. 

When I asked if she would ever consider going back to China she told me that she would love to go back on a vacation with her husband, but if she were to go back to teach, it would have to be a year-long gig with much nicer accommodations and decent pay. It was then that I asked if she always wanted to be a teacher. She confessed that she would have loved to be an actress in her heart, but the lifestyle would be too much for her. “Until you make it big, you’re moving around, your- your schedule is crazy, and I was like- I also wanna get married and have a family and being an actor is not conducive to that,” she explained. At one point she considered doing film but gave that up for the same reason she gave up pursuing acting professionally. Although she decided not to pursue acting or cinematography professionally, Mrs. Barker became a film/theatre teacher as well as an English teacher. To satisfy her “acting bug,” as she calls it, Mrs. Barker also does a lot of community theatre so she gets a chance to act in addition to teaching students. 

As we continued to talk about her career, it was mentioned that she used to be a cast member in Disney World. While she was still in college, she participated in the Disney college program: a national paid internship program that is moderately hard to get into. “I mean, I don’t think it was hard, but I got in,” she stated. She then told me how she went there in the fall and got to see Disney World in its normal, Halloween, and Christmas versions while she worked in attractions. Mrs. Barker didn’t see working in Disney as a job, but rather as an experience. When I asked if she would rather go to her favorite spot in China or to Disney, she had a hard time choosing but finally said “I mean if I could be in Yangshuo every day of my life or be in Disney World every day of my life, like there isn’t a cost difference, I’m gonna pick Disney World.” Her reasoning for this was that Yangshuo is a magical spot to visit for a day, but she could spend forever in Disney World and its atmosphere. 

Although Mrs. Barker grew up in Utah, she has had many great experiences across not only the United States but also the world. Now she is living in Maine teaching English and Theatre at Oak Hill High School in addition to teaching violin outside of school. She started playing violin when she was five years old and is extremely passionate about it and claims that she owes a lot to it including her love for music and performance. With all these amazing experiences and skills Mrs. Barker already possesses, I thought to ask her what one thing she would want to do in her future. Her response was, “I would like to publish some things that I’m writing.” Although the majority of people may not know it, Mrs. Barker is currently working on multiple young adult books in her spare time. 

 I may not have known Mrs. Emily Sue Barker for a very long time, but after getting to know her, she has already become an inspiration to me. Her experiences make me want to go out into the world seeking adventure and to strive to make my life exciting. I have no doubt that she will inspire many other kids during her time at Oak Hill and beyond.

(Image provided by Emily Sue Barker)