Instructors & Staff

Daihao Tang: Instructional Lead/K-12 Pedagogical Expert
Current Position:	A full-time Chinese Instructional Coach in the International Leadership of Texas Charter School since 2016, supporting 72 Chinese teachers in Dallas and Fort Worth areas.
Ms. Tang served as the Instructional Lead of the STARTALK Student Summer Program in KC in 2019 and 2021. She has been a full-time Chinese Instructional Coach at the International Leadership of Texas Charter School since 2016, supporting 72 Chinese teachers charter-wide in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Her duties include training and coaching Chinese teachers in curriculum backward design, lesson plan, classroom management skills, classroom procedures, instructional strategies, scaffolding, comprehensible input, performance assessment, etc., as well as co-teaching and modeling. Under her mentorship, 90% of the Chinese teachers in the school district have achieved 90% and above target language in instructions, and students can respond accordingly and correctly in Chinese. Ms. Tang has been teaching Chinese in Texas since 2007, from K-12 in public, private schools as well as weekend schools before her coach position. She taught Chinese I, II, III; Pre-AP II, III; and AP Chinese Language and Culture courses for seven years at public schools. She holds a LOTE Chinese EC-12 Certificate from Texas, an M.A. in education, and a B.A. in Chinese Literature.
Siyun Liang (Liang Laoshi): Chinese instructor for Level I 6^th – 8^th graders
Current Position:	Full-time Chinese Teacher at the International Leadership of Texas Charter School
Ms. Liang has been teaching American students Chinese for the last ten years. She has ample experience in teaching Chinese immersion students. Currently, she has over 200 students from kinder to fifth grade at International Leadership of Texas. Ms. Liang understands that interest is the leading force for language learning and believes fun and educational activities support students in discovering their interest in language. Her prior experience as a Chinese museum education director in California, collaborating with the San Diego language community and school districts, also enables her to bring rich Chinese culture, resources, and language activities to lessons that continuously motivate students to learn. Ms. Liang holds a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature and M.A. in Special Education.
Xiuqin Chen (Chen Laoshi): Chinese instructor for Level I 9^th – 11^th graders
Current Position:	Full time Chinese teacher at the International Leadership of Texas Charter School.
Ms. Chen has more than 10 years language teaching experience in China, UK and USA. She holds an international Chinese teaching certificate. Ms. Chen has been the Chinese teacher for International Leadership of Texas Charter School since 2019. She is experienced in building the connections between students’ language and culture background and the target language and culture, engaging students to apply the target language in real life scenarios. Ms. Chen’s class provides rich resources and materials to meet students’ different learning styles and leads students to become a lifelong language learner. Ms. Chen holds a B.A in literature and M.A in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign/Second Language.
Wenwen Yao (Yao Laoshi): Chinese instructor for Level II 6^th – 8^th graders
Current Position:	Full-time Chinese Teacher at the International Leadership of Texas Charter School
Ms. Yao served as the Instructor of the STARTALK Student Summer Program in KC in 2021. She holds international Chinese teaching certification and Texas teaching certificate. Since 2018, She has been the Chinese teacher for International Leadership of Texas Charter School, teaching Chinese K-12. She is highly experienced in implementing a project-based curriculum to encourage students to apply language to solve real-life problems and challenges, and incorporating technology to create flipped classrooms, offers a variety of ways to motivate learning and encourages students to become better self-learners. Ms. Yao holds a B.A. in Teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages and M.A. in Chinese International Education.
Jing Yang (Yang Laoshi): Chinese instructor for Level II 9^th – 11^th graders
Current Position:	Full-time Chinese Teacher at Aubry Bend Middle School (ABMS)
Ms. Yang served as the Instructor of the STARTALK Student Summer Program in KC in 2019, the instructor for Kalamazoo STARTALK Pilot Program between 2021 – 2023. Before working for ABMS, Ms. Yang taught Chinese classes Level 2-5 and IB Chinese classes at Lincoln College Preparatory Academy (LCPA), a 4-year college preparatory magnet school in the Kansas City School District for three years. She specializes in different models of Chinese immersion, such as a 50/50 one-way immersion model and 110+ minutes/day in Mandarin. Ms. Yang holds an M.A. of Teaching Chinese as a second language, a M.A. of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages, and a B.A in Chinese Language and Literature
Lina Dickson: Program Director
Current Position:	Principal of Kansas City Chinese School North
Mrs. Dickson served as the Program Director of the STARTALK Student Summer Program in Kansas City, MO in 2018, 2019 and 2021. She is also the co-director of STARTALK Teacher Program in Kansas City in 2021. Mrs. Dickson established Kansas City Chinese School North, the only Chinese school in the north of the area. Since its establishment, Kansas City Chinese School has been actively promoting interaction among educators, students, parents as well as communities, via language classes, art classes, and family-friendly cultural projects. Ms. Dickson holds a B.A. in International Journalism and an M.A. in Communication.