Michael Watkins

Educational Background

D.Phil.  English Literature, Trinity College, Oxford University

M.Phil.  with Distinction, English Literature of the Renaissance, Trinity College, Oxford University

B.A. First Class, English Language and Literature, Trinity College, Oxford University

Michael is a scholar of Trinity College, Oxford University, where he was awarded the Violet Vaughan Morgan Prize Medal, the Claude Bellingham Prize, the Richard Hillary Prize Scholarship, several Trinity College Graduate Prizes,  and the Kenneth Moore Prize Scholarship.

Biography

In 2001, Michael deferred an offer to tutor in English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, to spend six months teaching at Ningbo University — and he never went back.  After two years in Ningbo, Michael moved to Wenzhou, his wife’s hometown, and spent a further two years teaching at Wenzhou University. He opened his own English-language training school in 2005 and over the last 15 years has been awarded the Ningbo Camellia Honor Medal, the West Lake Friendship Medal (from the province fo Zhejiang), and the Wenzhou Friendship Award (twice). Michael lives here with his wife, Lin Su (CEO of an educational technology company) and his two sons, Max and Felix.

 

In 2017, Michael returned to academia by taking a position at Wenzhou-Kean University as a lecturer in English. He mainly teaches Composition, World Literature, and Academic Written Discourse. Amongst other duties, has served as WKU’s Coordinator for Composition since 2018, and currently serves as Coordinator for Assessment of the First-Year English Program. He is also WKU’s Course Designer for ENG1300 and ENG1430 online.

Courses

Composition (ENG1300 and ENG1430), Academic Written Discourse (ESL305 and ESL405), World Literature (ENG2403)

Research Interests

Michael has a wide range of research interests, and is currently researching gender construction in Chinese ESL textbooks, Chinese interpretations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.