Director and Key Trainer
Dr. Miao-fen Tseng (曾妙芬)
Dr. Tseng is an expert in second language acquisition and teacher education for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. She has served as the director and key trainer of the STARTALK Teacher Program at the University of Virginia since 2008. She is a member of the AP Higher Education Advisory Committee formed by College Board, a College Board consultant in AP Chinese, an OPI certified tester in Mandarin Chinese, and a K-12 Chinese language program evaluator and foreign language program reviewer for ACTFL/NCATE. She has played multi-roles in the national development of AP Chinese since 2004. Her most recent involvement in the development of AP Chinese includes serving as a curriculum advisor for the Course Audit and as a member of the Curriculum Development and Assessment Committee. She has frequently given talks and taught in many workshops, seminars, and summer institutes in AP Chinese and Chinese language pedagogy in the US, China, and Taiwan. Numerous K-12 and heritage school teachers have benefited from her professional experience and have obtained TCFL certificates or graduate-level credits granted by different universities around the US. She has actively promoted Chinese language and culture in the national and international levels and is the founder and president of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Virginia. Her Intermediate Chinese course was recognized as one of the top ten undergraduate Chinese language courses in a nationwide study of Chinese courses completed by the Educational Policy Improvement Center in Oregon in 2007. She also received the Ron Walton Presentation Prize in 1998 and the Jiede Empirical Research grant in 2005 awarded by the Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA). She has published numerous refereed articles in journals on Chinese language teaching and learning and is the author of two books: AP Chinese Language and Culture Teacher's Guide, and Promoting Professionalism in Teaching AP Chinese (推动专业化的AP 中文教学).
Practicum Facilitator
Daphne Lee (李佳芳)
Daphne Lee participated in the 2009 VSCTA and was invited to return to the 2010 VSCTA to serve as the practicum facilitator. She received her Masters degree in Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at the University of Pennsylvania. For the past few years, she has taught Chinese as a foreign language from Pre-K to college levels and taught English as a second language to adults. She is competent in creating age-appropriate materials, delivering differentiated instruction, and connecting individuals with communities. She is a model STARTALK teacher in the 2009 program and will return to the program next year to work closely with recruited teacher trainees as a practicum facilitator. She will facilitate trainees to create standards-based thematic units and lesson plans and provide mentoring and coaching. Additionally, she will help coordinate academic and cultural activities for student learners during practicum.
Guest Teacher Trainer
Dr. Ruth Ferree
After working 22 years as a French teacher in public high schools, Dr. Ruth Ferree returned to graduate school to study brain processes involved in language. She is the faculty and Director of Teacher Education Program of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, teaching courses in second language acquisition, language teaching methods, and language assessment. She is part of a team developing a reliable and valid teacher assessment and development tool using video of real instruction. Click here to see a sample of Dr. Ferree's Lecture.
Guest Teacher Trainer
Dr. Dali Tan
Dr. Dali Tan served as the President of CLASS (Chinese Language Association of Secondary-elementary Schools) and College Board Consultant in AP Chinese. She has extensive experiences in working with high school teachers for collaborative projects and national initiatives. She is a model Chinese language teacher at Landon High School in Maryland and the director of Landon Study Abroad Program.
Program Assistant: Teacher Coordinator
I-Rong Lee (李憶蓉)
I-Rong Lee is a rising third year undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, majoring in two concentrations of commerce: finance and accounting. In the fall of 2010, she will begin studying at the McIntire School of Commerce. She has completed Accelerated Chinese to the final 4060 level in college. In her second year of college, she transferred from the College of William and Mary to the University of Virginia to pursue acceptance into McIntire. In the summer of 2007, she traveled to Taiwan to teach English to elementary and middle school students in rural areas for three weeks. Before serving as a program assistant for the 2010 Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teaching Academy, she was teacher assistant for a pre-school Chinese class in the Washington School of Chinese Language and Culture in Maryland. After college, she plans to first spend a few years working in the fields of accounting and finance and then pursue further business education. Her contribution to the 2010 STARTALK program include acting as the teacher coordinator, event organizer, T-shirt designer, video and website technology support, and website designer.
Program Assistant: Student Coordinator
Jennifer Tsai (蔡婕伶)
Jennifer Tsai is a rising third year undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, double-majoring in Foreign Affairs and Psychology. She has completed four semesters of Accelerated Chinese to the final 4060 level in college. During the summers 2008 and 2009, Jennifer worked at the Bergen County Zoological Park as a Camp Counselor, teaching children ages 5-12. She has previous experience teaching in the 2009 Chinese Outreach Program in Charlottesville, a program that promoted the study of Chinese language and culture in local schools in the K-12 settings. After college, she will pursue a career in politics or government, hopefully in an international track. Her contributions to the 2010 STARTALK program include acting as the student coordinator, event organizer, handbook creator, and video technology support.