Dr. Cynthia Ning
Principal Investigator
Dr. Ning has been with the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS) since its inception in 1987. She specializes in Chinese language pedagogy and has published several series of Chinese language textbooks with Yale University Press. She also teaches a course in Chinese film.
Prof. Song Jiang
Instructional Lead
Prof. Jiang is director of UHM’s Chinese Language Flagship program and an associate professor of Chinese linguistics in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. His specialization is in effective approaches in moving learners through higher levels of proficiency, and in the pragmatics of communication in Chinese.
Ms. Jialin "Sunny" Sun
Program Director
Sunny has been with the Center for Chinese Studies since 2007 and has been involved in the STARTALK program since the very first one. She specializes in outreach programs that promote the learning of Chinese language and cultural studies.
Ms. Joanne Shang
Lead instructor
Ms. Shang is a nationally known specialist in instructional technology. She teaches Chinese at the Rye Country Day School in Rye, NY. She is a reader for the Chinese AP exam, and helped edit Barron's AP Chinese Language and Culture preparation guide. She has been with the University of Hawai‘i STARTALK program for almost a decade.
Ms. Chunman Gissing
Lead instructor
Ms. Gissing is originally from Taiwan, but first started teaching Chinese in Beijing. She is currently with the University Prep Academy in Seattle, WA. She is a consultant for the International Baccalaureate program, and is particularly adept at working with issues linked to emotional intelligence. She first joined the UHM STARTALK program the year it started, in 2007.
Ms. Jing Wu
Instructor
Jing Wu is a Chinese instructor and a Ph.D. student in the Department of EALL at UHM. She was the UHM Study Abroad Faculty Resident Director. Her research interests constitute second language assessment and intercultural development in study abroad settings. Jing has been teaching Chinese from all levels for almost 10 years.
Ms. Xi Yang
Instructor
Xi Yang teaches at the Kapi‘olani Community College. She currently is a Ph.D. student in Chinese linguistics at the Department of EALL at UHM. She has two master degrees, one in Ethnomusicology and the other in Chinese. She is a certified Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) tester in Chinese. Her research interests are interactional linguistics and Chinese language teaching pedagogy.
Mr. Jacob Algrim
Instructor
Jacob Algrim is a Chinese lecturer and Ph.D. student in Chinese Linguistics in the Department of EALL at UHM. He lived and worked as a foreign language instructor in southern China for seven years, and holds a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics and Foreign Language Pedagogy. His research interests include cognitive linguistics and cross-cultural communication.
Ms. Meiyi Liu Shade
Instructor
Hé Lǎoshī has been teaching for over 20 years, and for 15 of those she has taught Mandarin Chinese, at the elementary school, junior high, high school, and college levels. She is currently with the Mercer Island High School on Mercer Island, WA, where she is responsible for Chinese 1 through AP courses. She is also a reader for the annual national AP exam.
