Meet the workshop presenters
This year we have more speakers than ever before. A very talented array of teachers will deliver the workshops.
Read about the workshop presenters below.
Soledad Amian
Soledad Amian manages over 50 education establishments across Spain and UK as head of teacher training for Better Chinese. She studied Mandarin at the University of Shenzhen and gained her HSK5 qualification in 2008. Sole’s primary expertise is in the area of game play in learning through the use of technology, having created an extensive range of primary Chinese learning books and iPad applications.
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Yan Burch
Yan Burch has been in charge of Chinese teaching at Cheltenham Ladies College for over twenty years, with experience in CIE IGCSE, CIE Pre-U, IB B, IB A, Edexcel IGCSE and A level. She is the author of Mandarin B For The IB Diploma.
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Jennifer Buster
Jennifer Buster is the Assistant Director of Learning at St Mary Magdalene Academy where she steers the Inspire Programme – a series of projects and masterclasses that support the needs of exceptional students at the Academy. As a Confucius Classroom Manager, Jennifer also leads on the growth and development of Mandarin and China link schools at the Academy.
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Melissa Carr
Melissa Carr is Head of Non-European Languages and Confucius Classroom Manager at Dartford Grammar School, teaching Mandarin and French. After graduating in both languages at Newcastle University, she took part in a television series filmed in China about Chinese cuisine, broadcast in the UK. A desire to teach and a love of languages led her to complete the GTP (Graduate Teacher Programme) in 2012/13.
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Lily Chen
Lily Chen is Head of Chinese from Our Lady’s Convent High School. She is also the project coordinator of ‘Accelerating Mandarin Chinese for London’, a programme supported by the Mayor of London. Lily is interested in teachers’ Continuous Professional Development and supporting new teachers in their self-development.
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Juan Cole
Juan Cole is a teacher at Bohunt School, where she teaches Mandarin Chinese through immersion programmes and also as a foreign language. Juan holds a Mandarin PGCE from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) and has experience of both independent and state sectors, from primary to A Level. She advocates flexible, enjoyable and effective teaching approaches, with a mixture of both traditional and modern methods. She also believes in the importance of developing cross-curriculum programmes within school and beyond.
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Liqun Dai
Liqun Dai is ASA’s Head of Chinese and Confucius Classroom Manager. She manages all Chinese programmes at ASA, both on the timetabled curriculum and in the popular outreach activities, including Chinese at the six local primaries. She mentors the Academy’s three Chinese Language Assistants (CLAs) and leads a highly successful team.
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Finlay Davidson
Finlay Davidson teaches Chinese at Hummersknott Academy in Darlington. He studied Mandarin at Newcastle University in England and Hainan University in China. Through his NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher) year he has already been working with senior leadership on new whole-school approaches to assessment and new styles of assessment in MFL (modern foreign languages).
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Jia Ding
Jia Ding is a Chinese teacher at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys. She has a degree from Zhengzhou University in teaching Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) and a Master’s degree in educational policy from the University of Sheffield. Jia built up considerable experience of teaching Mandarin at the University of Sheffield’s Confucius Institute and in various secondary schools before undertaking her current position.
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Alex Ferraby
Alex Ferraby has taught Chinese and French at Kingsford Community School in London for ten years. He trained through the GTP (Graduate Teacher Programme) and then continued to become Head of Languages in recent years. He was a winner of an ‘Outstanding Teacher’ award at the Chinese conference of 2010. He is particularly interested in the wider social, economic and historical context for today’s pupils of language learning, and is also currently looking at developing the various teacher training routes into schools. (@alexferraby)
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Zonghui Gan
Zonghui Gan is a qualified language teacher with nine years of teaching experience in both grammar and comprehensive schools in the UK. He is currently teaching Mandarin Chinese from KS3 up to GCSE and Pre-U level at Callington Community College, part of Peninsula Group Confucius Classroom.
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Thomas Godber
Thomas Godber first studied Chinese at Edinburgh University. He also holds an MA in translating and interpreting and worked as an editor for the government of Taiwan for two years. He is currently Head of Mandarin at Brighton College. Teaching interests: creativity, literature, history.
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Simone Haughey
Simone Haughey is a MFL Consultant, Primary Languages Teacher and Confucius Classroom Manager at Robin Hood Primary Academy. Simone is a lover of languages as a way to make friends and try new cuisine! She is a self-professed TeachMeet addict and likes to keep up her CPD with #mfltwitterati on twitter and Primary Languages on facebook. These are great ways of sharing and being inspired. (@simonehaughey)
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Kate Howarth
Kate Howarth has been a teacher of MFL (modern foreign languages) for over 35 years. She has been Head of Languages and International School Co-ordinator at Finham Park School in Coventry for the past 10 years, as well as Confucius Classroom Manager since its inception. Kate teaches French, German , Spanish and helps to deliver a beginners’ enrichment module in Mandarin.
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I-Han Huang
I-Han Huang is the Teacher in charge of Mandarin at Putney High School in London. Before she completed her PGCE in Mandarin at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE), she completed an MA in English Language Teaching and Multimedia at the University of Warwick. In her teaching career, she is particularly interested in using technology assisted teaching and learning in the classroom.
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Meryl James
Dr Meryl James, Senior Professional Development Officer at Scotland’s National Centre of Languages and the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools. Meryl worked as a secondary teacher before becoming a Development Officer for eight years for a Local Authority in Scotland. She has a wide experience in both primary and secondary schools for 21 years, with a special interest in the teaching of Chinese in primary since 2005.
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Alexandra Kirienko
Alexandra is currently an undergraduate student of Philosophy and Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She began studying Mandarin at the Cheltenham Ladies’ College six years ago, and continues her studies now alongside her main degree programme. Alexandra achieved an A* at iGCSE level, and 235/240 at CIE Pre-U.
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Yuemei Li
Yuemei Li is currently a teacher of Chinese at Devonport High School for Girls. She has built up experience of teaching Chinese as foreign language both in China and UK. She also enjoys her current roles as an examiner and the liaison teacher for Peninsula Group Confucius Classroom.
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Peishu Lin
Peishu Lin has been teaching in secondary schools for seven years and has worked as an examiner for several exam boards. She is particularly interested in the teaching of grammar and her teaching philosophy is ‘teaching by showing; learning by doing.’ In the classroom she uses creative but simple cross-curricular activities to motivate pupils and to promote a more stimulating atmosphere for learning.
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Helen Lewis
Helen Lewis has been teaching Mandarin in primary and secondary schools in the West Midlands for the past seven years. She is a non-native speaker who learned Mandarin at the University of Durham and the Beijing Languages Institute. Helen currently teaches Y8 – Y11 at Finham Park Confucius Classroom in Coventry.
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Sara Long
Sara Long teaches Chinese and French at Gumley House Convent School FCJ in west London. She is head of Chinese and manager of the recently-accredited IOE Confucius Classroom. Sara is also a fantastic subject mentor for Initial Teacher Training (ITT).
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Rob Neal
Rob Neal currently teaches Mandarin Chinese at Stretford High School, an inner city comprehensive school in Manchester. He also studies part-time at the University of Cambridge for a PhD in second language acquisition. Before moving to Manchester, Rob was Head of Chinese and Confucius Classroom Manager for seven years at Silverdale School in Sheffield. In 2014, he received an IOE CI Excellence Award for his inspirational teaching and formal contributions to the UK’s developing Chinese foreign language pedagogy.
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Aurélie Sanner
Aurélie Sanner learned Mandarin in France, before she received her MA in translation (University of Exeter). Currently Head of MFL at Chobham Academy, a new 3-18 independent school in East London, her teaching interests are: training new Mandarin teachers and developing a Scheme of Work for non-native speakers across primary and secondary.
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Alex Seigal
Alex Seigel worked in the early days of The Dragon Trip and helped research the route around China. After this, he completed the Teach First programme and was Head of English at a school in Kent. He has since returned to The Dragon Trip and is working on creating memorable and educational tours for young people. Alex will be presenting with Natalie Syers (below).
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James Stagg
James Stagg is Head of Mandarin at the Harris Academy South Norwood. After studying Business Management and Chinese at degree level at the University of Lancashire, he went on to a PGCE at Edge Hill University. James is currently teaching Mandarin from all the way from Year 7 up to GCSE in Year 11 and hopes to take this onto A level next September.
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Natalie Syers
Natalie Syers is currently Assistant Head of MFL (modern foreign languages) and Language College Manager at Dartford Grammar School. A keen linguist, Natalie studied Chinese and French at Newcastle University, and after a few years pursuing a different career path, she moved into teaching and completed the GTP (Graduate Teacher Programme) in 2011/12. She teaches Chinese and French and will be taking her fourth group of students to China this October.
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James Trapp
James Trapp is the Primary Network Coordinator here at the UCL IOE Confucius Institute. He has a particular interest in making Mandarin accessible to young learners and he works with schools across England. James currently leads a five-year project sponsored by the HSBC Global Education Programme to promote and support Mandarin learning in primary schools.
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Philippa Vallely
Philippa Vallely is the Teacher Training Coordinator at UCL IOE Confucius Institute. She has ten years’ experience teaching English as a foreign language in a variety of Asian and European contexts, including six years in China where she studied Mandarin Chinese at Beijing Culture and Language University. She also worked for two years in Borneo as a teacher trainer and mentor for the British Council on a Government of Malaysia project, and more recently as Academic Director for a group of junior courses in the UK.
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Chris Webster
Chris Webster will be a Teacher of Mandarin at Latymer Upper School, London, from September 2015. Chris is currently at finishing his PGCE training and has been researching Target Language teaching, working with Aurélie Sanner (above) and applying Target Language methods in the Mandarin classroom. Chris and Aurélie look forward to sharing which techniques have worked for them – with surprising results!
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Cheng-Han Wu
Cheng-Han Wu is an Advanced Skills Teacher and Head of MFL at Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre. Since 2006 he has strategically established Mandarin Chinese in the curriculum from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5. Cheng-Han holds a Masters degree in teaching (MTeach) and in 2013 he won a UCL IOE Confucius Institute Excellence Award. He is an outstanding mentor to teacher trainees and he regularly organises TeachMeets for MFL teachers. (@wu_lao_shi)
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