Report from Shanghai
Western Michigan University alumni Chris and Rebecca (Hileman) Bishop packed their bags in summer 2008 and moved to Shanghai with their preschooler, Carter, to teach and coach at Concordia International School. Rebecca completed a master’s at WMU in 2001 in pedagogy with an emphasis in physical education and health education. Chris earned a master’s degree in 2004 in sports management.
Becki checked in with this report in January:
In 2005, our dear friends left Kalamazoo to travel abroad to teach in Shanghai, China and other friends went to Islamabad, Turkey. After hearing about their teaching opportunities and travel experiences throughout the Middle East and Asia, Chris and I decided we wanted to give it a try. We attended the Northern Iowa Job Fair in early 2008 and were quickly offered many teaching jobs throughout the world.
We chose Shanghai mostly because our dear friends reassured us that it was a safe place to travel with a child and recommended Concordia International School as an American-curriculum school with a great reputation. So, we accepted the teaching offers and quickly began planning for our new life.
Chris is teaching 5th grade (all subjects) and coaching varsity girl’s basketball. Becki is teaching physical education to 5th through 10th graders and coached middle school rugby this fall, along with starting a high school cross country team.
Carter is attending preschool and loves it! His mandarin skills have blossomed in the short time that we have been in China! We hope he will continue to expand his vocabulary throughout our three-year stay here.
Life in Shanghai has been both challenging and rewarding so far. It took some time to get acclimated to the time zone, poor air quality, traffic, and language barrier, but it seems to get easier with each passing day. Fortunately, we live in an expatriate community, so the transition has been fairly easy.
Our school is wonderful and the students are pleasant to work with. We feel blessed to be here and are hoping to travel throughout Asia and learn as much as we can about this culture. Of course, we miss our family and friends we left behind, but thanks to Skype and email we are able to communicate on a regular basis. We also have bookmarked the WMU homepage and do regular checkups to find out how our Bronco family is doing! GO Broncos!!
The Bishop's plan to hold an alumni reception sponsored by the Haenicke Institute in Shanghai in the near future.
More about Chris and Becki
Chris Bishop grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich. where he attended grades 3 to 12 in the Forest Hills Northern district. Following high school, he attended WMU from 1996-2000 and earned a bachelor’s degree in education. He also participated on the men’s track and field team from 1996-1998. Upon graduating from WMU, Chris taught 4th grade at Milwood Elementary School in Kalamazoo from January to June, 2001, then switched to the Bloomingdale Public Schools from August 2001 to June 2008. He taught 5th and 7th grades during his time at BPS and served as the varsity boys basketball coach and varsity track and field coach. In 2004, Chris earned his master’s degree in sports management.
Becki (Hileman) Bishop grew up in Brookville, Ind., where she attended grades K-12. Following high school she attended Ball State University from 1994-1998, majoring in exercise science with a minor in coaching. She participated on the women’s track and field team for BSU from 1994-1996. In January of 1999, Becki moved to Kalamazoo, Mich. and began WMU’s master’s degree in pedagogy with emphasis in physical education and health education. She served as a graduate assistant in the HPER Department and later graduated in 2001. Upon finishing her degree at WMU, she was hired to teach physical education and coach varsity cross country / track at Bangor Public Schools from 2001-2002. An opportunity to be a full-time assistant track coach / part-time instructor at WMU opened in 2002, where she worked until June 2008 when we decided to move to China.