Staff Archives - American Language Institute Blog

February 18, 2015June 18, 2020

Staff Profile – Chad Schempp – ALI Recruiting Director

Chad Schempp has certainly been well served by tennis in his career path, and it all began by playing on a California state championship team at Vista High School.

He moved on to UC Santa Barbara, where he chose to focus on his studies and not play tennis at the collegiate level.

Even so, he still kept interested in tennis. And being at UC Santa Barbara ultimately led him to SDSU’s American Language Institute where he has been the ALI recruiting director since September.

During Schempp’s junior year of college, he participated in Semester at Sea, where students sailed around the world for five months and made stops in 14 countries. Their assignment: Explore each country for several days, come back onboard the ship and write research papers for classes concerning the country they just visited.

“I had a passion to work with international students from that point on,” he said. “That’s what has led me to my current job and related jobs.”

Upon graduating from college, he worked for a government insurance office in downtown Sydney, Australia. But the tennis bug never left him, so his next job was teaching tennis in Saipan, a commonwealth of the United States near Guam.

Schempp went from there to Japan, where he still had visions of teaching tennis on a full-time basis. But a technicality prevented him from getting a work visa teaching tennis, so he taught English to obtain his work visa and taught tennis in the evenings and on weekends.

“I started to enjoy teaching English more than tennis,” said Schempp, who worked as an associate professor at a Japanese junior college teaching and advising students who desired to study abroad.

After that, he was recruited to help create and teach at an in-house language school for 2,000 General Electric employees in Japan.

From there, it was back to San Diego County as director of an international student program at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. Around that time, he married his wife who is from Japan, so they decided to move to Hawaii in order to be halfway between their two families. While there, he worked as director of graduate admissions for Hawaii Pacific University.

The Schempps then decided to move back from Hawaii five months ago to be closer to his entire family that lives in San Diego. And speaking of family, Chad said there is nothing like the family atmosphere at the ALI.

“People here are unbelievably friendly,” he said. “I’m impressed and surprised by how long people have worked here on average. When I went to the (SDSU) staff awards luncheon, I was surrounded by fellow employees who had been here 20 years or more. People obviously enjoy it, which is great.”

September 8, 2011August 24, 2018

Staff Profile – Lynnette Torres – Academic Advisor and Marketing Assistant

Lynnette Torres has worked for ALI for almost four years and her experiences have shaped her understanding of living and studying abroad. She knows all about being a new face in a different country. She worked abroad with the Jet Program. “I moved to Japan and worked there for two years teaching English at elementary and junior high schools. I taught English for two years in Chichibu Saitama. It’s a city about an hour and half north of Tokyo,” says Torres.

Coming back to the states was a big culture shock, “I wanted to integrate my overseas experience with work, so I decided to work in education. When I returned in 2007, it wasn’t long before I found the American Language Institute.” Since she traveled all over Asia she feels that her experience has given her insight to be the academic adviser for ALI she is today.

ALI is a place of diverse people, as are Torres’s observations of the students she helps. She works for the academic program assisting students to gain entrance to universities and helping them with the application process. She says it’s important to get all the information for the scholastic journey ahead.

Her invaluable time teaching in Japan gives her the ability to relate to students. Lynnette says, “It’s nice to talk with students and share their experiences. I enjoy working here and seeing all the people from different cultures. With any country, there are cultural differences and experiencing living abroad helps when relating to the students.”

Lynnette’s advice is to be prepared to study the language. She adds that students may not get all the information they need back home, and that a lot of research will help.

June 14, 2011August 28, 2018

Staff Profile – Yuan “Miffy” Yingna – Recruiting Coordinator

When Miffy Yuan came to the U.S. five years ago, she never imagined working for San Diego State University (SDSU). She traveled to the U.S. to work in Maryland. “I worked at the Marriott hotel in my hometown of Guangzhou and then came to the states to work at the Marriott in Baltimore,” says Yuan. After about a year and a half in the U.S., she decided to apply to the American Language Institute at SDSU.

“I did one semester as a pre-MBA student and then two semesters in the Semester at SDSU Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation Management certificate program. It never crossed my mind that I would get a job here.”

Today, Miffy is a recruitment assistant where the bulk of her work is engaging with Chinese students. “I spend about one to two hours per day talking with people in China via QQ [a Chinese IM service]. I also spend time each day communicating via email with students from many countries. I like working with students from different countries since cultures are different and everyone can learn from each other,” says Yuan.

With experience as a student at SDSU behind her, Miffy shares insight on student life in the U.S. and what she enjoys about San Diego, “Be prepared that there is a lot of independence here. Try to be expressive – don’t hesitate to say ‘Thanks.’ Being more communicative with everyday experience is something that I needed to get used to. And, what I like best about San Diego is the weather and friendly people.”

The learning environment is definitely important; however, Yuan stresses that students need to look at other areas when choosing a school. Yuan says, “Studying and learning English are important, but students should review the school’s other services. For me, the ALI provided detailed service, advising me on things like housing. It’s really beneficial to students since they need these things but don’t think about them. The ALI helps students go through the entire application process. They care about students and it shows.”