Interview with Brittany Nickerson, February 18, 2021

Interview Summary

Brittany Nickerson served as a Peace Corps Volunteer together with her husband in China from 2018 until the program was closed and they were evacuated because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. She discusses the influence of her Lutheran background in joining the Peace Corps. She talks about her experience teaching conversational English to English majors in a state college, judging various student competitions, and tutoring children in Lanzhou in Gansu province. She says that she tried to build students' confidence. She talks about her interaction with her host family in training, her students, and other foreign teachers. She discusses the circumstances of learning about the program’s termination and the evacuation because of COVID-19. She also talks about her current work as an AmeriCorps Volunteer in New Mexico.

Interview Keyword

China (Country of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education 2018-2020 (Date of service) Program termination Evacuation Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) #Covid19

Interview LC Subject

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--China China Acculturation Communication and culture Culture Culture shock Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal relations Interpersonal relations and culture Language and culture Language and languages Lifestyles Manners and customs Voluntarism Volunteers COVID-19 (Disease)

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