My name is Geoffrey Hoffmann, from Indiana in the USA.
I was born in Stuttgart, Germany, since my dad was an American diplomat. When I was two years old, we moved to Baghdad, Iraq, then three years old moved to the USA. All of my studies were done in the state of Indiana (from Kindergarten to Master’s degree).
Interestingly, I never had an interest in China when I was growing up. Ever since I was young, I was a basketball fan, and dreamed of one day playing in the NBA. It wasn’t until my junior year of college that I started to become interested in China.
This was a bit of a tough time for me personally; I couldn’t find a major that I really liked-an ideal career choice. Because I’m a Christian, I prayed to God that he would help me and give me guidance on what to do.
That spring, a great opportunity came my way: a chance to study in Hong Kong for one semester. I had never been to Asia before, so I was a bit nervous. With thanks to God, I soon found that I loved life in Hong Kong, and most importantly it changed my life.
After I graduated from college, I came to Tianjin to teach English. This experience not only strengthened my interest in Education, but also in my love for China.
After these two years I returned to America to pursue my master’s degree (my goal was to find a stable job). However, after only a few months, I began to miss China again. So, after graduation, I decided to go back to China to work at an international school in Qingdao.
When I arrived at the school, I found that my office was next to the Pre-Kindergarten classroom; I also discovered that there was a very pretty, lively, and friendly teacher there. Every morning we would greet each other and smile.
To make a long story short, that young woman is now my wife and my private Chinese tutor.
At that time, although we both had rather comfortable, stable jobs, I still didn’t feel very content. Since it was an international school, there weren’t many Chinese students; also I had a strong desire to have a career which was more directly related to China. I started to read on the internet about a new trend in American schools: studying Chinese.
After discussing and praying about this with my wife, I decided to go back to the states and get a Chinese teaching certification.
After this semester, I will graduate from Indiana University. I’m now applying for jobs, and hope I can achieve my goal: become a Chinese teacher. I hope to help students understand China better, be interested in China, and love China.
Even if I become a Chinese teacher in the future, I will still continue to study Chinese. Even though I’m already in the Advanced Level 2 class, I still feel that I have just started to study the language. I hope my Chinese can get better, and gradually more rich and fluent. In this way, this will help me to give students more help.
Teacher evaluation:
The content is concrete, is substantial, the sentence is smooth, says very much to own life course clearly, as soon as believes you to be able to become an outstanding Chinese teacher surely.
我的小传
（美国）霍智杰, 2010年春 南开大学
我叫霍智杰，美国印第安纳州人。
因为我爸爸以前是美国的外交官，所以我是在德国的斯图加特出生的。我两岁的时候搬家到伊拉克的巴格达，三岁的时候我们一家才回到美国。我从幼儿园到研究生都是在印第安纳州上的。
有意思的是，我小的时候对中国没有什么兴趣。我从小就是一个篮球迷，我的梦想就是有一天能够当一个NBA的球员。一直到大学三年级的时候我才开始对中国感到一点兴趣。那个时候我碰到一些困难：我找不到一个自己喜欢的专业――一个理想的职业选择。因为我是一个基督徒，所以我祷告神能够帮助我，给我一些引领。
那年春天，我得到了一个特别的机会：去香港学习一个学期。因为我从来没有去过亚洲，所以我有一点紧张。感谢神，我在香港的生活很开心，最主要的是我的人生观也有了很大的转变。
我大学毕业以后来天津教英文，那两年的生活不仅让我对教育工作更加感兴趣，而且也让我对中国的感情越来越深。两年以后，我又回到美国上研究生（教学的技术），为的是以后可以找到一个比较稳定的工作。可是我回到美国仅仅几个月的时间就又开始想念中国了。所以，我毕业以后又再一次回到中国，在青岛的一个国际学校工作。
我到了那所学校以后，发现我的办公室是在幼儿园的教室旁，我还发现幼儿园的教室里有一位美丽、活泼、亲切的老师。我们每天早上互相打招呼、微笑……长话短说，那位姑娘现在已经是我的妻子和我的私人中文老师了。
那个时候，虽然我们都有比较舒适、稳定的工作，可我还是觉得不太满意。因为那是一个国际学校，所以中国人很少；而我的愿望是多做一些和中国有关的工作。那个时候，我在网上看到美国的学校有一个新的发展趋势：学习汉语。
我跟老婆一起祷告，商量以后，决定再回国拿一个中文教师证。
这个学期以后，我会在印第安纳的大学毕业。我现在申请工作，希望我会达到我的目的：当一名中文老师。我希望能够帮助学生更了解中国、对中国感兴趣、热爱中国。
即使我将来当了一名中文老师，我还要继续而学习汉语。虽然我已经在高级二班上学，可是我感觉只是开始学习中文。我希望我的中文能够越来越好、越来越丰富。这样，我觉得可以使我给学生更多的帮助。
老师评语：
内容具体、充实，语句通顺，对自己的生活历程讲得很清楚，相信你一定能成为一个优秀的中文教师。
