My name is Chen Qiang (陈强）I have been teaching English and Chinese as foreign languages for over 20 years both in China and in America. Through my teaching experience, I have learned that as an educator, I can learn each day from my teaching, my students and the professional development. Live and learn is always my motto.
I am a native speaker of Mandarin with excellent reading and writing ability in simplified characters and proficiency in traditional characters, as well. My Master's Degree is in Literature and was earned at Hebei University in 1999. With more than 20 years of foreign language teaching experience at all levels, I have consistently demonstrated excellent oral and written skills in both Mandarin and English.
After 15+ years of working in the Information Technology industry, I took a 4 year break to volunteer in my child’s school and the Asian American communities. I was elected to serve as the President of the PTA, subsequently the Principal, and Chairperson of the Board, at the local heritage school. After my tenure, I started teaching the adult class at the heritage school since 2004, and a year later at the nationally top-ranked Raleigh Charter High School. My background, briefly, includes a B.S.
Extensive training as a master of English language specified in Translation Theory and Practice, 7-year experience of teaching foreign languages on university level, and strong interpersonal skills should qualify me to go through the Startalk Program of Virginia University. I hope I can grasp this opportunity to build up a more solid career foundation for being a better teacher and cross-cultural communicator. I believe that my past experiences as a teacher and academic make me a very competitive candidate.
I was a reporter for United Daily News for 20 years in Taiwan. My field was in Education and Culture. I immigrated to the US in 2008 and decided to transfer my career to a Chinese teacher.
There are more than five thousand years of Chinese history. It has a profound historical and cultural impact on the world. It is worth it for people to learn and understand the Chinese language and culture.
After over twenty years working in IT career as software manager, and having worked as Chinese Heritage School teacher, Pinyin program director since 2003, and working in George Mason High School, Falls Church VA since 2006, I have decided to switch my career path from IT to educational arena in summer 2009.
Consistent use of standards, 5 Cs (communication, culture, connection, comparison, community), for lesson planning, instruction; and assessment leads to more focused ways of ensuring that all students meet or exceed the academic standards. It is very important to teach practices that reflect high expectations for student achievement of the standards, help keep students meaningfully engaged throughout the learning process; and insure students have multiple and varied opportunities to meet/exceed the standards.
I love teaching. Teaching makes me energetic and lively. There is a proverb that says “Teaching and learning promote and enhance each other”, and actually, teaching and learning are two sides of one coin; so I also believe that students should feel energetic and enjoyable during the process. As a language teacher, I believe I have the responsibility to create a pleasant and productive learning atmosphere to help students develop their own positive and enjoyable ways of learning.
Born and raised in China, I am passionate and positive in mandarin Chinese teaching in English environment with my Chinese cultural background and English professional education.
This is my second time participating in VA STARTALK. I have absorbed, processed and internalized the proved theories and the best practices I learned from the program. I can’t thank enough the people who worked so hard to make it possible.
