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Home › Forums › Short Online Seminars › China And The World, Spring 2023 › Self-introductions
Gurpreet Gill.
Crystal HsiaWelcome everyone! Let's get to know each other in the workshop!
I'm Crystal the program officer from the US-China Institute. I will be managing the course logitics of the seminar. I'm really looking forward to this seminar with Director Clay Dube and all of you!
Before coming to the US-China institute, I taught Mandarin and World History at different levels K-12 (mainly high school). I also do some AP/IB curriculum development outside of my work. I'd always want to explore possibilities to develop projects involve with different subjects and the problem-solving skill. To develop meaningful projects of learning the language and culture, I join a wide variety of workshops to brainstorm ideas with the community and share thoughts. So I am really looking forward to joining the conversation and learn from all of you!
Indira EngelHello! My name is Indy Engel and I teach Spanish to PreK-8 grade students at a small Catholic school in Omaha, Nebraska. I was born and raised in Panama, but have lived in Omaha for the last 25 years. I'm interested in culture and languages and seek to bring perspective to my young students other than what they see and experience in our little part of the world.
Henry RuanHi, I am Henry Ruan (阮勇强) and I teach Chinese language and culture to high school students in Connecticut. I also taught in another high school in NYC for over 20 years. Promoting cultural understanding and providing different perspectives are always key elements in my teaching. It is also an important part of inclusive instruction. Hopefully, this approach in teaching will allow my students to become a lifelong learner and contribute to "making our world a better place to live". Looking forward to learning and sharing in this pogram.
Tzu-Hsuan TingHello! Nice to meet everyone! My name is TzuHsuan,Ting. I was born and raised in Taiwan. I moved to California last Febuary. My English isn't good , but I'm interested Chinese culture. My friend shared this seminar for me. I'm looking forward to learning.
Jenai SheffelsHi! I'm Jenai and I teach at Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Washington (a suburb of Seattle). We are a Microsoft Showcase school, literally just down the road from their headquarters, with a focus on Problem-based learning and STEM contests/mentorships. I teach Contemporary World Problems and Civics to all our seniors. My course is structured from the 1900s on, with a focus on the historical foundations first semester and then connecting to contemporary issues second. I'm excited to learn with and from all of you.
Debra SandsGood morning. My name is Debra Sands and I teach 7th grade Human geography at an independent school in NYC. Teaching at an independent school gives me a lot of leverage in how I structure my curriculum and I'd really like to expand the currect course to include more on Asia, partcularly China. Even with a bachelors degree in History, I have to admit my own knowledge base is pretty limited to Ancient China, rather than modern. I'm looking forward to growing as a learner myself and to the opportunities that will help create for my students.
Jerrica KeaneHello everyone 🙂
My name is Jerrica Keane. I am a teacher at Aragon High School in San Mateo, CA. I teach Government/Economics, Ethnic Studies (with Courtney Caldwell who is also participating in this course) and Agency & Social Justice. I am orginally from Edmonton, Canada. I moved to the Bay Area just over 5 years ago. I feel extremely lucky to teach at my current school as I am able to teach courses that I am most passionate about.
Overall, I'm excited to learn more about China and its global connections to add depth of personal understanding while also incorporating more diverse topics/text/perspectives into both Ethnic Studies and Agency & Social Justice.
I'm looking forward to meeting you all! - - Jerrica
Qitao JiHi, all
My name is Qitao Ji. Currently, I teach Chinese Language & Culture virtually to high school students in an orgnization under Virgina Department of Education. Prior to that, I taught in Michigan for 11 years as a Chinese language teacher in K-12 schools and as a fourth grade classroom teacher in a Catholic school. In addition, I worked as a Chinese language and culture curriculum designer for multiple school districts and as a curriculum lesson plan designer for a partner company focused on ESL instruction. I am the editor of a set of books called Teaching Chinese Folk Tales through English Drama, which was published in China last year.
I am really into the language learning & teaching. My career goal is to be a life-long language educator.
Chelsea LawrenceHi everyone!
My name is Chelsea Lawrence. I teach Upper School Spanish (mainly 10th grade) at UMS-Wright Preparatory School in Mobile, Alabama. This is my 8th year teaching. My focus areas at my course level is Central America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. I am part of a department that is fortunate to develop our own curriculum so we have the freedom to teach alot of "out of the box" topics that are typically not in a traditional textbook. One of threads that we weave in to our units on different countries in these regions is the international influence both past and present. My key topics pertain to US relations in Guatemala (United Fruit Company), Panama, and Cuba as well as Soviet Union/Russian relations with Cuba and Venezuela. I am excited to be part of this seminar and to have the opportunity to enrich my own knowledge and my curriculum on China and its global reaches.
-Chelsea
Chelsea LawrenceJenai,
Welcome! Your course on Contemporary World Problems sounds amazing. I imagine that is such an engaging course for your students and very useful in informing and preparing seniors to enter the "real world" with a foundational knowledge and 21st Century Skills. What are some of the main topics you focus on?
-Chelsea
Crystal HsiaHi Tzu-Hsuan,
Nice meeting you! Welcome to Los Angeles. If you ever got an opportunity to visit USC, please visit us 🙂 We are glad that you can join us and we can learn from each other. What aspects of Chinese culture are you interested in particular?
Courtney CaldwellHi Everyone!
My name is Courtney Caldwell and I teach 9th grade AVID, Link Crew Leadership, and 9th grade Ethnic Studies at Aragon High School (with Jerrica Keane who is also in this seminar) in San Mateo, CA.
I had the opportunity to go on a Fulbright through China and Mongolia and it really made me truly appreciate a better understanding of Chinese culture, politics, and rich history. I'm excited to learn more about China and it's global connectedness and incorporate more diverse texts/info more in to my curriculum in ethnic studies.
See you all next week!
Courtney
Kirstjen PollockHi Everyone! It's nice to meet you all!
My name is Kirstjen Pollock and I teach 9th grade social studies (Individuals & Societies) at an international boarding school in Hangzhou, China. I have lived here for 13 years and have 2 small children who attend local public schools. The campus where I teach is a 1-year "study abroad" satellite program for our Hong Kong-based international school; each year, our whole 9th grade comes to Hangzhou for 1 year of intensive Mandarin language and culture study. The students largely come from Chinese/Hong Kongnese family backgrounds, with some international students whose families hail from all over the world. All students are native English speakers.
I teach interdisciplinary, collaborative project-based learning inquiries. My 2 big units are a "Shark Tank" style marketing competition and an immersive arts exploration of China since Reform & Opening. The latter unit of inquiry is the reason for my interest in taking this course. In our inquiry, we look at some of the major policy changes that happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s through 改革开放, then students interview a family member about their lives since 1979. Afterwards, we layer with knowledge about China's developing economy, and look for a personal account that offers a different perspective from their own family's perspective. Last year, we pulled heavily from "Invisible China," which I encountered through USC's US-China Institute.
Though I have prepared and studied a lot on my own and in conjunction with my husband (the other Social Studies teacher at our school), it will be nice to bounce learning off of others!
Mihaela TufaHello, my name is Mihaela Tufa and I live in New Jersey. I was born and raised in Romania and came to te US in 1996. I am a clinical scientist and chose to participate in this class because I am interested in Asian culture, particularly Chinese, Japanese, Korean. I was able to participate in few classes designed for K12 teachers at Japan Society NYC because non teachers were allowed as long as there were still openings left. I also took a course intended for teachers at China Institute NYC between October and December last year. I am glad to share what I learn with others - friends, colleagues.
Mihaela
Feng Ranhello，it's my great honor to be here and introduce myself. My name is Ran Feng(冉凤), a native of Sichuan Province,China. I am a person who has passion on learning. As long as there is a chance, I will be keen to learn new things to improve myself.
In China, I mainly teach primary and secondary school students reading and writing practice, I have been teaching Chinese online for more than a year. Looking forward to further study(*￣︶￣)