Lead Instructor (Chinese): Ms. Henny Chen

Ms. Chen has been the Chinese language teacher at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, California, since 2007. Prior to that, she taught Chinese literature in Taiwan for 14 years. She holds a Master’s degree in educational technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Chinese literature. Henny Chen is a renowned trainer and consultant in instructional technology for teaching Chinese as a foreign language in the U.S and abroad.

Since 2008, she has been serving as the technology coordinator for UC Berkeley’s STARTALK program. Since then, Ms. Chen has developed numerous consulting projects and has joined STARTALK programs as a teacher trainer, such as the IMPACT STARTALK program at Stanford University and a teacher-student summer combination program at the University of Virginia. She shared her four-step flipped learning model to the program and presented her model at the STARTALK conference.

In the fall of 2016, she started an infrastructure program at UC Berkeley’s STARTALK to develop and provide an online credential enrichment program to teachers who planned to continue their study to become certified teachers. Since 2009, she has designed and developed online training courses for Mandarin Chinese language teachers at different levels. More than 500 teachers from 47 countries have joined the online training courses. Ms. Chen was the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Chinese Teacher Award by The Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools (CLASS).

Lead Instructor (Korean): Dr. Hye Young Shin

Dr. Shin is currently a professorial lecturer at American University. She received her Ph.D. in Multilingual and Multicultural Education from George Mason University and a Master’s degree in TESOL from American University. As a native Korean, she has taught both heritage and non-heritage students in a variety of settings, including colleges, U.S. government facilities, Korean heritage schools, and K-12 public schools. She has developed an online curriculum for upper-level Korean in Fairfax County Public Schools. She has worked with Korean heritage school teachers while doing community outreach programs, providing several teachers’ workshops, and serving on the Education Advisory Committee for the Washington Association of Korean heritage Schools.

She is the co-author with Haewon Cho and Jae Hong Lee of Epic Korean, the Korean textbook series which is organized based on the ACTFL’s World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages in the 5C goal areas, with links between communication and culture applied in making connections and comparisons.

Coach (Chinese): Ms. Hui Liang

Ms. Hui Liang, a certified Chinese language teacher in Maryland, has more than twenty years of teaching experience at the high school and college levels and eleven years of teaching experience in community-based Chinese heritage schools. In addition, she is also a mentor and cooperating teacher of student teachers of the University of Maryland, College Park, and Towson University. She is also the former Vice-Principal and Academic Director of the Howard County Chinese School. She frequently delivers a variety of teacher training workshops and webinars to all levels of Chinese teachers locally and nationally. Nationally, Ms. Liang is the at-large member of the Board Directors of the Chinese School Association in the United States (CSAUS). Ms. Liang has designed the themes and curricula for six different STARTALK deliveries. Hui works on a personal level with all teachers and teacher assistants to deliver an exceptional experience to STARTALK students. She also served as an instructional lead of the STARTALK program at Howard County Public Schools System for more than five years.

Coach (Chinese): Ms. Ya-Wen Chang

Ms. Chang is a certified Chinese language teacher in California. She currently teaches multiple Chinese levels at Irvington High School and also AP accredited classes at Fremont Chinese School. Ms. Chang holds a Master’s degree in Educational Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Media Science. Since 2011, she has been teaching in various settings, including Pre-K Chinese characters class, CFL (Chinese as Foreign Language) online classes, and high school accredited classes for heritage students. Ms. Chang participated in U.C. Berkeley’s STARTALK credential program, and is certified as a dual enrollment instructor at Ohlone College. In addition to teaching, she has also led junior and high school students to compete in the Chinese History and Culture Competition, and has led her teams to multiple victories, including winning the Northern California Championship and placing second and third at the National Tournament.

Coach (Korean): Mr. Dae Y. Kim

Mr. Dae Y. Kim began his career as a Korean language instructor at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA. While at DLI, he taught military linguists from the novice level to the advanced level and served as a teaching team leader.  He also developed Korean textbooks for the Korean school as a subject matter expert (SME) in the Curriculum Development Department. The developed textbooks and workbooks are still being used in the Korean Language School as the primary instruction resource for the  18-month Korean language curriculum.

In 2017, he taught Korean at Democracy Prep Charter High School in Bronx, New York. Democracy Prep serves minority and immigrant population of students. At this school, Korean is the solely required foreign language subject, and immersive cultural experiences are offered to enrich their learning. He taught Korean language and culture and organized various school-wide cultural activities.    

Since the fall of 2017, he has been working as a Korean language Instructor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages (MCL) at George Mason University. He develops and manages online foreign language placement exams for the College. As an SME in the Korean language and culture, he has been presenting and facilitating professional development workshops the Korean as a foreign language teachers in the K-12 schools in the local community.

His interests are in task-based language learning in online environment, language learning through cultural understanding, and innovative methodologies, such as digital storytelling, that can enhance students’ intercultural competence. He has developed a textbook that introduces the North Korean language and culture using the comparative method, and has been delivering this course in both online and in-person formats.

He holds a master degree in Instructional Science and Technology from California State University, Monterey Bay

Program Director: Mrs. Lina Dickson

Mrs. Dickson served as the Program Director of the STARTALK Student Summer Program in Kansas City, MO in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023. She is also the co-director of STARTALK Teacher Program in Kansas City in 2021.

Mrs. Dickson established Kansas City Chinese School North, the only Chinese school in the north of the area. Since its establishment, Kansas City Chinese School has been actively promoting interaction among educators, students, parents as well as communities, via language classes, art classes, and family-friendly cultural projects.

Ms. Dickson holds a B.A. in International Journalism and an M.A. in Communication.