I am a native speaker of Mandarin from a family of Chinese language educators. Both of my parents were professors who taught international students Mandarin. I inherited their passion for language education. I majored in English in China, taught English at Sichuan International Studies University and earned my master’s degree in Chinese linguistics at the University of Hawaii. I taught all levels of Chinese, including elementary school to high school, college and graduate school in the US. I...
I am a native speaker of Mandarin from a family of Chinese language educators. Both of my parents were professors who taught international students Mandarin. I inherited their passion for language education. I majored in English in China, taught English at Sichuan International Studies University and earned my master’s degree in Chinese linguistics at the University of Hawaii. I taught all levels of Chinese, including elementary school to high school, college and graduate school in the US. I was one of the key persons who designed curriculum at West Curriculum Coordination Center, Honolulu. In this program, there were about 20 elementary students in each class and about 80 in total. By the end, each class as a whole memorized Chinese rhymes for one full hour non-stop at our presentation. We made Chinese learning so fun and beautiful sounding that the kids learned it without realizing.
While at Japan-American International Management School, which is a business graduate school in Hawaii, I was the only one who designed the curriculum and taught students who would later do business in China. There was no teaching material appropriate in that circumstance, and I alone did everything to meet the students’ very demanding and special language needs. My job was a big success.
I taught Chinese for almost 15 years. I used many textbooks; for example, New Practical Chinese Reader and Liping Ma’s textbook. Each textbook has its own strength, but I like Liping Ma's textbook most which puts a lot of emphasis on vocabulary and Chinese culture.
I often tutored privately while teaching in classrooms. My strength is being flexible in choosing textbooks and adding supplementary materials. Different from classroom teaching, I often let my students decide the pace and method of tutoring. My tutoring includes game playing, TV watching and bringing my students to Chinese gatherings so that the lessons will be practical and realistic, not bookish. With modern technology, these can be done remotely.
