Language as a bridge between worlds

I came to language teaching through journalism — spending fifteen years as a reporter, editor, and eventually managing editor at major publications in Guangdong, China. That career trained me to find the story that matters, to ask the question beneath the question, and to communicate across cultural divides with precision and care.

When I began teaching Chinese as a second language in the United States, I brought that same editorial instinct into the classroom. Language is not a set of rules to memorize — it is a living system shaped by communities, histories, and everyday human needs. My courses are built around that conviction.

Over nineteen years I have taught learners from preschool through graduate school, in independent schools, public libraries, community programs, and university settings. My practice is grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and project-based instruction, and draws on public humanities, intercultural communication, and multimedia storytelling to make Chinese language acquisition meaningful, real, and lasting.

“Learning a language is not acquiring a skill — it is gaining a way of belonging to a larger human world.”

My teaching is shaped by two careers that both depend on the same underlying capacity: the ability to cross cultural distance and make meaning together. As a journalist in China, that meant finding the story that mattered to readers across a city of millions. As an educator in the United States, it means helping non-heritage learners enter the world of Mandarin not as tourists, but as thoughtful, curious participants.

I design my courses around the ACTFL three-mode framework — interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication — but the framework is always in service of authentic purpose. Students in my courses read poetry and street signs, debate contemporary issues, interview community members, and produce multimodal projects that they share beyond the classroom. Language acquisition happens fastest when learners have something real to say.

Universal Design for Learning is not an accommodation strategy for me — it is my default approach. Varied entry points, flexible assessment, and multiple means of representation are built into every unit from the start, because the population of non-heritage Chinese learners is itself beautifully diverse in background, learning style, and motivation.

I draw heavily on my journalism and publishing background to cultivate in students a narrative awareness: the ability to see an event, a character, or a cultural practice as a story worth telling. This connection — between language learning and public communication — is the through-line of my pedagogy.

Introductory · University

Elementary Mandarin Chinese

Foundational spoken and written Mandarin, integrating pinyin, character recognition, and cultural context from the first week. Emphasis on authentic, communicative tasks over rote drill.

Introductory · University

Chinese Language, Literature & Culture

Language acquisition situated within literary and cultural study — poetry, folk narrative, contemporary media, and visual art as primary language learning materials.

Intermediate · University

Chinese Conversation, Communication & Comprehension

Develops interpersonal and presentational fluency through structured conversation, multimedia listening tasks, and community interviews.

Interdisciplinary · University

Chinese Culture Through Community & Media

Explores contemporary and historical Chinese culture through journalism, documentary, social media, and community engagement with Cleveland’s Chinese-American community.

Multi-Level · Pre-Collegiate

Mandarin for Gifted Learners

Accelerated, inquiry-driven curriculum developed for gifted education programs. Students pursue self-directed cultural research projects alongside rigorous language instruction.

Community · All Ages

Community Chinese & Summer Language Camp

Designed for learners from preschool through adult in library and community program settings. Emphasizes joyful, culturally immersive learning through story, song, play, and community celebration.

Community Partnership

Asia Town Curriculum Connection

Designed project-based Chinese language curricula linking university classrooms with Cleveland’s Asia Town community, local museums, and cultural institutions. Students produced publicly shared interpretive projects connecting language learning to living culture.

Public Humanities

Cultural Presentations & Gallery Talks

Created and led public-facing presentations and gallery talks bridging Chinese history — calligraphy, poetry, visual arts — with contemporary intercultural dialogue, in collaboration with area libraries and cultural spaces.

Educational Media

Bilingual Educational Publishing

Developed bilingual magazines, e-magazines, and educational content integrating editorial strategy, cultural storytelling, and digital audience engagement, using Adobe InDesign, WordPress, and multimedia tools. Graduate research at George Washington University focused on global digital distribution and eBook/audiobook models.

Summer Program

Summer Language Camp Design & Leadership

Designed and directed annual Summer Language Camps featuring immersive language instruction, culture-specific activities, talent showcases, and interactive performances — serving learners from preschool through middle school.

Pedagogical Outcomes Demonstrated

A wondrous professor of Chinese, and the nuances of language in general. She teaches in a way that incorporates project learning as well as accumulated learning. The amount of time dedicated to answering my questions — simple, nuanced, and extremely difficult — is beyond what is required of her. She represents exactly how all teachers must engage in teaching, with regards to her attendance to the needs of students, and the ability to make her students want to engage during and outside of class.

End-of-Semester Evaluation

The attention to detail on each linguistic structure is impeccable within such a short amount of time, and there are no questions left unanswered. The trip out to the restaurant was a perfect method of throwing us into the culture and making us interact with Chinese people. There were no students that were overlooked — you play to the strengths of each person wonderfully, while making them focus on the places that require improvement.

End-of-Semester Evaluation

我觉得这门课中最有价值的收获，是学会了如何与其他文化建立联系。我认为这学期自己进步最大的是听力，因为即使有些词我并不完全知道，我也能大致推断别人正在说什么，并把自己知道的信息拼接起来、补足空缺。是的，我已经向几位朋友推荐了这门课。学习中文并不像我原先以为的那样困难，而 Wen 是一位非常优秀的老师。

期末评估

这是一位非常优秀的中文教授，同时也非常理解语言本身的细微之处。她的教学方式融合了项目式学习以及累积式学习，比如每天在课堂上进行一些小练习，例如用中文打招呼，并鼓励我们更多地开口说中文。她花在回答我那些简单问题、复杂问题甚至极其困难问题上的时间，远远超过了她本来需要做的程度，我对她的感激已经难以简单用文字表达。我非常感谢她；她真正体现了教师应该如何投入教学：关注学生需求，并且能够让学生在课堂内外都愿意主动参与学习。

期末评估

The most valuable knowledge I found was learning how to connect to other cultures. I have most improved in listening — even when I don’t know all the words being spoken I can piece together what I know and fill in the gaps. Learning Chinese is not as difficult as I originally believed, and Wen is a wonderful instructor!

End-of-Semester Evaluation

Outside of class, the ways in which we choose a topic to focus on and take time to dive deeply is wonderful. Our mutual interest in academics propels us to engage in deeper dives into the roots of the language by questioning the ways in which the language manifests today. I have no critiques of the method of teaching — I would only love to see an even bigger requirement of having students speak to each other using only Chinese, since even 5–10 minutes can help students become comfortable with being wrong, being corrected, and seeing the good side of imperfection.

End-of-Semester Evaluation

我在这门课中学到的最有价值的内容，是声调的重要性，因为在上这门课之前，我和朋友说中文时几乎不会正确使用声调。我最大的进步肯定是在听力方面，因为现在当我在讲普通话的人附近时，我已经能够理解我听到的对话内容。我认为这是我上过最好的语言课之一，因为它不仅挑战我进一步理解这门语言，也给了我更多机会去了解中国文化。

期末评估

我认为我从这门课中获得的最有价值的知识，绝对是对中国文化与文化实践的理解和欣赏。在上这门课之前，我对中国文化只了解一些基础内容；但上完这门课后，我可以很有信心地说，我比以前懂得更多了。课程和老师都非常优秀。每个单元的内容都很吸引人，老师也通过让学生模仿与实践的方式进行教学，效果很好。如果说有什么需要改进的地方，我觉得其实并不多。这门课整体设计得非常完善，也经过了深思熟虑。

期末评估

The most valuable knowledge that I gained from this course would definitely be cultural awareness and appreciation. Before taking this course I knew only the basics when it came to Chinese culture and practice, but after taking the class I can say with confidence that I understand more than before. The course and its instructor are both very good. The content for each unit was very engaging and the instructor taught it very well to have the students replicate and learn.

End-of-Semester Evaluation

This class was my first time writing in Chinese, so I made improvements there for sure. My reading got better as I understood sentence structure better and was able to comprehend longer texts. I would recommend this course to anyone who has any interest in learning Mandarin or any foreign language because it is a very useful language to know, and this class is designed to cater to each person’s specific goals with the language.

End-of-Semester Evaluation

2024

2022–2024

2017–2019

2008

1985–1989

Let’s connect

I welcome conversations about Chinese language pedagogy, interdisciplinary curriculum design, community-engaged learning, and opportunities to contribute to universities committed to intercultural education.