A familiar face, but a new title: Upper School English teacher. Seen in the hallways and a wide variety of Upper School classrooms last year, Lang Kanaï is here to stay as he takes the position vacated by Upper School Head Cory Zeller.
When the English department was in need of a new teacher for the Upper School, they were looking for someone with a bit of a different angle. “We’re looking for someone with experience and looking for someone who thinks a bit differently than everyone else,” Upper School English teacher Mike Mahany said. “He has an interesting perspective.”
Born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland amongst 10 siblings, Kanaï has many passions. He played the viola through his first undergraduate year at the University of North Carolina which was his major, but then decided to switch to English Literature his sophomore year. Along with playing the viola, Kanaï also enjoys scuba diving. He was introduced to the sport by his father in Palau, which is where his father is from. He travels there frequently to visit family, but Kanaï also enjoys traveling in Asia as a whole. After getting his Master’s degree in English Literature at Georgetown University, Kanaï worked abroad. “I lived in Indonesia for a few years teaching at a university, and then when I came back to the US, I didn’t want to live in DC which is where I was living in my twenties,” Kanaï said. “I wanted to be in a bigger city, and I really didn’t want to go to New York or LA, so I was like, ‘Okay, Chicago might be cool!’ So I just kind of not knowing what Chicago was like moved down here.”
Kanaï began working at the Latin School of Chicago as a substitute teacher, and then transitioned to teaching Upper School English there full time. He taught there for four years and left at the end of the 2021-22 academic school year. After leaving Latin, he then applied for a substitute teaching position at Parker. Mid-school year, he was then hired for the interim position which he held in the second semester of this past school year.
Kanaï hopes he can make each unit he teaches this year have the perfect balance between out-of-the-box projects, intense classroom discussions, and creative writing.
“As much as I love analytical writing, I think that we don’t always do enough creative writing, and I think that’s an area where students regularly get excited for,” Kanaï said. “I’m all about trying to meet students where they’re at in terms of what their interests are.”
Kanaï is excited to start off his first full year at Parker in the English department, and can’t wait to get to know his new students.
