When John Hilton was pursuing a master's in education, he took a very influential class from Eleanor Duckworth. She frequently taught and reinforced a concept to the class: "It is very important for teachers to have a chance to watch themselves learn." So when Hilton was hired to teach literature as a college professor, he thought it would be a good idea to take a Chinese class. He found that while the subject matter was different from what he taught, he uncovered important principles about learning and teaching by observing himself as a learner. The purpose of this essay is to share one lesson learned from a Chinese tongue twister.