Sarah Tillman joined the faculty of Beijing Normal University in the fall of 2011. She comes to China from the University of Delaware, located in Newark, DE, near the United States city of Philadelphia. During her undergraduate years she studied English writing and literature and Latin literature at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, where she also edited the student newspaper and literary journal. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in May of 2005. Following graduation, she began a career as a newspaper reporter for a small Pennsylvania newspaper but after several years realized she preferred literature and teaching. She returned to study at the University of Delaware’s English department. In 2009, she earned a Master of Arts in British and American literature, and her area of specialization was in Old English and Medieval period literature. She has translated most of the famous Old English poem Beowulf into modern English. She began her teaching career as an instructor of first-year composition at the University of Delaware teaching first-year academic writing to American students. In 2009 the University of Delaware asked her to develop a first-year writing course for Chinese students and to create a tutoring support program for ESL students, which she worked on until the end of 2010. She also taught and tutored students from a variety of linguistic backgrounds at University of Delaware’s English Language Institute and then briefly at a language school in New York City prior to making the decision to move abroad to teach at BNU. She hopes at some point in several years to return to her studies to earn a PhD degree in either composition studies and rhetoric or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. In terms of research area, she is interested in learning more about the difficulties that Chinese-speaking students encounter when approaching longer English academic writing assignments in American universities.

Sarah grew up in a family of two younger sisters, two loving parents and several friendly cats. In her free time she enjoys reading novels and poetry, attending theater, cooking dinners for her international friends, traveling, taking long walks, doing yoga and practicing her very poor Chinese language skills. She looks forward to working in English with both majors and non-majors in the coming semesters. She is also thrilled to learn more about Chinese language, culture and food while at BNU and hopes to share with students a taste of life in the US mid-Atlantic region.