Barbara Goldthwait

Professor

“I was teaching ESL in Japan with my husband. That’s where I discovered Zen.”

Barbara Goldthwait has been teaching in the SMC English department for the last five years. She began when her children were grown, “and gradually I’ve been taking on more classes so that now I’m practically working full-time.”

Barbara teaches several sections of English reading and composition. But her duties at SMC also spill over into a class she conducts for the Emeritus College, the school for seniors. Here you will find Barbara Goldthwait, instructor of the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan, leading a graceful and attentive class of seniors through a “meditation in motion.”

“I began doing Tai Chi about 12 years ago,” says Barbara. “It gives you a tremendous sense of balance and inner peace.” Several of her English students have discovered this other dimension of their teacher and have followed her to the Emeritus classrooms. “I really like having the variety of older and younger students,” she says.

Barbara finds that SMC has been an encouraging place for her to explore her diverse talents as a teacher. “It’s just a wonderful opportunity to be able to teach both English and Tai Chi,” she says.

“It makes me feel as though I’m teaching both the body and the mind. And in the process,” she adds, “I feel like I’m working with my whole self, as a person and as a teacher.”

Back