Chinese Track Faculty

Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, stated one thing that has been with me from the start of my teaching, “Teach according to each student’s ability and needs”. I have taught Mandarin for all grades for the past years; the most amazing stage is the exploration stage. The young children use their five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch to embrace this culture that is Chinese.Teaching a foreign language lets each child take hold of this amazing adventure in discovering a whole new perspective of the world. I am very lucky to be assisting these children in this discovery! I sincerely enjoy watching these children learn a whole new culture. It is extremely rewarding to watch children immerse themselves in an unfamiliar culture with only their curiosity in common!

I feel very happy when I see children learning another language and culture. It is a rewarding opportunity for me to teach the wonderful children at TIS. I believe TIS has created a positive environment for children to learn a new language in a natural and fun way. Not only do the children learn the language, they learn about the culture as well. This gives the children a positive attitude and builds a strong foundation for their bright futures ahead.

I started out working as a middle school teacher in China and later taught at a college . However, once I began teaching pre-school aged children, I never looked back!I love working with young children because they make every day brand new. My work is never boring. The same children are in my classroom day after day, but they are always changing and I have to change with them and constantly think about how I can best help them learn. When you have a job that you love and that makes you happy, you never get tired of it. I feel so fortunate that I’m able to take my hobbies (Chinese and teaching) and use them in my profession.

My favorite part of the day is when a child comes up to me and proudly says “Teacher, look what I did.” I also love when a child’s parents tell me that their son or daughter is talking about what we learned in class or singing songs in Chinese at home. It makes me so proud. The hardest part of my job is watching the kids move on at the end of the year. It’s always sad to see them go, but at least we were able to share memories, grow and learn together.

Click here for an article about Aiyun.

Chinese Track LowK (4-year-olds) Teacher

I worked as a kindergarten Chinese/English bilingual teacher, then director and administrator for over twenty years in Taiwan before I immigrated to the United States in the year 2000. After I came to America I started to take English enhancement classes and studied in the Early Childhood Education program.Teaching young children has always been my enthusiastic interest. My personal experiences of learning English as second language help me provide instruction of curriculum and assessment in Mandarin for young children.

I love that The International School is a multicultural melting pot. It is amazing to see the students learning different languages and cultures. I love to be with students and share what I know with them. Through their pure eyes, I can see our world’s future.

I am always excited to work with children to learn through the immersion program and to watch them making their progress. It is really one of the blessed gifts that young children can pick up a language naturally if they are exposed to the immersion environment with a certain amount of time. I am glad to see the students have the opportunities to explore a lot more within the provided international curriculum and multicultural community setting. Our goal is to lead the students to become life long learners with worldview values to enhance them as global citizens.

I moved to Portland from China and was happy to find a place at TIS where I can share my language and culture. My favorite part of being a teacher here is watching my students give presentations in Chinese. I feel so proud of them as I see them display their confidence and language skills. I set very high expectations for my students and it’s great to see their achievements. I want to give my students the building blocks to reach the next level and be successful. I also try to teach them to be responsible and caring towards others. These are life-long skills that will help them succeed in the larger world.

I enjoy teaching young children at TIS because in elementary school it is exciting to watch how fast children learn and participate in that process. TIS provides me an extraordinary opportunity to share my language and culture. Helping the students at TIS become global citizens has brought me a tremendous amount of joy.

Teaching is so much more than just a job to me. I enjoy the time I spend with kids and I love to see them grow healthfully and happily with more knowledge. I treasure their unique talents and want to help them make the most of those talents. I also love the multiple culture environment at TIS.

Click here for a short article about Jenny’s class.

I knew what I wanted to be at age 10 and have never had a second thought. Teaching, I know, will be my lifelong career.I have been teaching since 1996 – 3 years in Taiwan, and the rest in the U.S. In these years, I get much more than I can give. From the children’s eyes, I see our future; from their points of view, I see how the world going to be. As an educator, I enjoy being with our future masters! The happiest thing for me is to see our future masters learn joyfully, grow confidently and responsibly and make a progress by time!

For me, teaching is not just a job, it is my passion. I have worked at The International School for nearly a decade. It is so amazing to work with young children. I really enjoy getting to know their personalities over the course of a school year and to see how they grow, both academically and socially.

At TIS it’s also a tremendous experience to see how the children learn, grow and share through the PYP. With this learner framework, children become active participants in their education, not just passive recipients. I love to see these little kids becoming explorers of the big world around them. For me, being part of the teaching staff here is also a dynamic and wonderful experience. The teachers are from all over the world. We are our own little global community, working and collaborating together.

During all these teaching years, I did lots of continuing education courses in Psychology and Education. I came to live in the USA in 2005. I did volunteer tutoring at the Clark College and private Chinese tutoring in both Vancouver and Portland.I love teaching because I love kids and I love learning and discovering new things with my students. I love to help my students understand the joy and satisfaction that comes out of being able to read, write, think, talk, listen, ask questions and find out the answers to their questions. I am happy to see my students enjoying their learning and making progress every day. I am so happy that I have the opportunity to teach at TIS. TIS has a very good learning environment for both the teachers and students.

Chinese Track 5th Grade Teacher

Before coming to the U.S. in 2001, I spent seven years studying Chinese language and literature. Having seen a lot of children from Chinese immigrant families lose their heritage language, I made my decision to be a teacher of Chinese. My native city has two ethnic groups, the Mongolian and the Hans. Brought up in two different cultures, I learned how to observe and understand things from different perspectives. This privilege of a bicultural consciousness has renewed me in a different form when I start to work at TIS.I experienced traditional and strict educational system in China. While in America, I was trained to be a student-centered, open and inspiring teacher. I can be very motivated by competition but I also value the power of teamwork.

I believe that TIS is always the right place for me. As an immigrant in the U.S., I always feel touched to see my own culture and language are so celebrated and respected. Please allow me, together with other teachers, to listen, to talk and to progress, as well as with you and your children throughout the year. As the Chinese track lead teacher, I am always available as a resource to parents, teachers and students whenever questions arise. Your supports always make our school prosper.

Chinese Track 5th Grade Teacher

I was drawn to TIS because of the International Baccalaureate program. Previously, I worked as a Chinese Teacher for the International School of Beaverton, which offers the IB’s middle and high school programs. So many aspects of the IB’s mission appeal to me. Not only does it incorporate a rigorous curriculum, but it encourages students to become independent, life-long learners. I also like the emphasis on global awareness. With the IB, kids learn to become world citizens by learning from other cultures and how to be open-minded.I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. It’s my passion. It’s hard to communicate what I like best about this profession, because I feel like it’s so much a part of me and what I do. As a teacher at TIS, I love the fact that I can share my Chinese culture with my students and that they become so deeply involved in it. I love to be able to communicate with the children in Chinese and to watch them progress in the language.

My favorite thing about teaching is sharing my language with people of different cultures. TIS provides many different language classes to the Portland Community – that makes it special! I have been married to my husband Tin Sang for many years. We have a daughter, a son-in-law, and wonderful grandsons.

Chinese Track Assistant Teacher

I love working with children.  Kids are so happy and it makes me happy to be around them all day. I think it’s fascinating to watch kids grow and develop from one day to the next.At The International School, I love seeing the children progress with their language skills.  Of course I’m happy that the students are learning Chinese and about my native culture, but I’m also glad to be a part of such a culturally diverse environment where the kids are learning one of three different languages! I’m also happy to be at a school that is teaching the IB Primary Years Program.  It really teaches kids to go further with their search of knowledge, to explore a subject more deeply.  I think it’s a really wonderful way to learn.

In Taiwan, I worked as both a teacher and the director of a remedial school. I helped arrange tutors for students who needed additional help outside of school. I like inspiring kids to reach their full potential and watching them progress and become more self-confident. I love being a part of the multi-cultural environment of The International School and being able to share the best parts of Chinese culture with my students.

In 2006, I started working at The International School as a substitute teacher and as a teacher assistant in the summer camp program. In 2008, I joined the school full-time as a teacher assistant. I love teaching and working with young children. I have a degree in Industrial Art Design and I love sharing my passion for art with the students. I use my skills at drawing, arts and crafts to make connections with the children. For me, TIS is a very special place!

Chinese Track Assistant Teacher

I come from a family of teachers. My mother is a teacher at TIS and both my grandfather and great-grandfather were teachers. I feel like it’s in my blood! I love to work with kids and watch them grow up happy and healthy.I am so happy to be part of a school where I get to share my language and culture with the children every day. It’s fascinating to watch the children’s language skills develop. They are fast learners! As students in the Chinese Track, they are learning not only the language but the culture too. It’s great when a parent tells me something that they’ve learned from their child about Chinese culture. I love that the whole family is learning together!