UVA Startalk program is such a rewarding PD experience. We do not just learn the theories but also get to apply and gain feedback to refine our skills and sharpen our teaching perspective. I truly appreciate our lead teachers’ clear guidance and the fellow teachers’ generous sharing. I've learned so much by doing, collaborating and reflecting through the process. I will continue applying what I’ve learned to hone my skills.
Learning happens in grappling with the content, the questions which are going to arise, identifying the confusions, what is difficult, what is the complex here, sometimes the learning is in the conversation. This UVA StarTalk teacher’s academy provides tons of opportunities for these learnings to happen. All the teaching fellows feel they are a part of the “conversation.” This program really focused on the learning of the instructors. It helps us become co-creators of the curriculum, not simply searching for a way to deliver a lesson.
I have participated in several STARTALK Teacher Programs in the past. Every STARTALK Program planted a seed in my teaching career. I always love what Steve Jobs once said, “you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” Those seeds I referred to are the dots that guide me through my teaching journey. This UVa STARTALK led by Dr.
My UVA Startalk 2021 journey is truly rewarding. The following 1234 are the highlights of what I gained. 1) One center: student-centered instruction; 2) Two golden principles: flooded comprehensive input and pushed productive output; 3) Three skills: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communications; 4) Four aspects of authenticity: authentic materials, authentic context, authentic tasks, and authentic process of negotiation of meaning.
I have a strong interest in teaching Chinese culture (including Chinese language, Chinese art, Chinese music, etc). My first job in the United States was teaching Chinese, from September 1999 to 2001, in the Mei-hua Chinese Language School in Silver Spring, Maryland. I have taught students from all ages and levels. Most of them came from multilingual (English, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and other dialog) and multicultural (American, Chinese, and other countries) backgrounds. I had to find the way that is totally different from traditional theory to teach them.
Ms. Mu is a recent graduate of University of Virginia (UVa). She holds a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics. During her graduate studies at UVa, she worked as a Teaching Assistant with Department of Chinese, at the time of which she fell in love with teaching Chinese and decided to make it her career plan. This coming fall, she will be an instructor of Chinese at the Middle School campus of Harvard Westlake School, Los Angeles.
I left Taiwan for boarding school in Boston at the age of fifteen, and later graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Comparative Literature and a minor in Korean Studies. My experience at boarding school has led me to pursue a career in teaching and educating the young minds. I constantly strive to become a role model for students of diverse backgrounds. In addition, being effectively trilingual in English, Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese, and educated in Taiwan, Korea and the U.S., I have a solid understanding of both eastern and western cultures.
I earned a Masters degree in TESOL from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree majoring in English Literature and minoring in Advertising and Public Relations from Fu-Jen Catholic University. Currently, I am a full-time teacher teaching Chinese language and culture from Pre-K through 8th grades at Belmont Charter School in Philadelphia.
I enjoy teaching Chinese as a foreign language since I started teaching in the mainstream classroom in the U.S. The needs of learning Chinese in the U.S. motivated me to pursue a Master’s Degree in education and to obtain a teaching credential to be a qualified teacher. In 2007, I received my M.A. in Education and a California Teaching Credential in Mandarin. Then I began to teach in a bilingual school.
I am doing the doctoral study in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. I have spent four years studying in America. So far, I have completed all of the required courses and passed the Comprehensive Exam. Next, I need to do the dissertation.
