“Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father; prepare to die,” is English teacher Yiu Hung Li’s favorite quote from “The Princess Bride.” Although his favorite movie doesn’t make it into the curriculum, Li is excited to join Foothill this year teaching ninth and tenth grade English.
After graduating from California State University Channel Islands, Foothill is his first teaching job. When asked what his favorite thing about Foothill is, he answered with a confident, “everything.” Although he never thought Foothill would be the place he would end up, Li said he still finds the school culturally rich, with an incredible staff.
“Foothill, to me, is the ideal archetype for what schools should be in the 21st century,” he said.
Before his teaching career, Li worked as a general manager for TAT Tropical Illusions for 17 years, selling ornamental freshwater and saltwater tropical fish, freshwater plants, and reef corals.
Somewhere along the way, he found his passion in writing and decided to pursue a teaching career in that field.
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“I am deeply passionate about literature. It’s something that [has] taken me a long time to understand,” he said. “I like writing poetry, I’ve written short stories, but one of the things that has driven me to be a teacher is my desire to help people understand their world and their surroundings a little better.”
His students like the way he runs his class.
“I think that this year he is my favorite teacher. I love how he teaches and the fact that he knows how to handle kids without being overly strict,” sophomore Haley Potter said.
Sophomore Adam Potwora agrees that Li is a calm, fun, and engaging teacher.
“He runs his class in a mellow and social kind of way,” Potwora said.
When he’s not in the classroom, Li is spending time with his family, going hiking, and reading books. Occasionally, during his free time, he will pull out his Nintendo DS and play one or two video games.
Li is also a fan of jazz music, as well as rock and blues; his all-time favorite band is The Beatles.
This year, he says looking forward to working with the students, as well as learning from them.
