Section 1: Teaching Philosophy for International Schools

This version of my teaching philosophy highlights the values and practices most relevant to international and IB-aligned secondary schools, including student well-being, intercultural understanding, inquiry-based learning, and whole-person development.

My Approach to Teaching in International School Settings

I believe that language learning is fundamentally human. Students learn best when they feel emotionally safe, respected, and empowered to take risks. My goal as a Chinese language educator is to create a classroom where learners experience trust, curiosity, intercultural awareness, and a genuine sense of belonging. These values ground my approach to teaching in secondary school settings and align closely with the principles of IB education, which emphasizes inquiry, whole-person development, and global-mindedness.

A formative moment early in my career reshaped my understanding of equity and student-centered practice. After a classroom activity, a beginning-level student shared that competing with heritage speakers had made her feel discouraged rather than motivated. Her honesty taught me that “fairness” is not sameness: it is responding to each learner’s background, readiness, and confidence. Since then, I have intentionally differentiated tasks. I designed collaborative instead of competitive activities, provided more wait time for novice learners, and offered extension challenges for heritage speakers. This experience helped me develop a teaching mindset rooted in equity, flexibility, and empathy.

Responsiveness is an essential part of my classroom. In one lesson, a student unexpectedly entered the room looking for her Apple Pencil, creating a moment of tension. Instead of letting the interruption disrupt the flow, I turned it into an authentic input opportunity connected to our grammar focus of the day. The class laughed, relaxed, and practiced real communication with purpose. Moments like this remind me that meaningful learning happens when a teacher can improvise, read the room, and transform the unexpected into learning.

Emotional presence is another core dimension of my practice. I pay close attention to subtle shifts in students’ expressions, posture, and energy. When I noticed a student trembling and avoiding participation, I invited her to meet privately. She described feeling overwhelmed by peer pressure and visibility in class. We explored grounding strategies, built simple speaking routines, and created a low-stakes practice plan to rebuild confidence. This affirmed my belief that wellbeing and language growth are deeply interconnected. When students feel seen and supported, they speak more freely, engage more deeply, and develop resilience.

In many international school contexts, a significant portion of learners are Third Culture Kids. These are students who grow up in more than one cultural environment and often face questions of identity and belonging. Many of them are also high-performing yet emotionally pressured adolescents or students navigating complex family expectations. In my teaching experience, I have found that these students often thrive when a teacher provides emotional safety, attuned responsiveness, and a classroom culture where sensitivity is not treated as a weakness but as a strength that can be guided. Because of my background in cross-cultural teaching elementary, middle school, university, and heritage contexts and my commitment to emotionally safe pedagogy, I am particularly effective in supporting learners who are highly sensitive, high-potential but self-doubting, or exploring questions of identity. Although these categories are not “official labels,” teachers working closely with adolescents in international schools consistently encounter these profiles, and I see them not as diagnoses but as invitations to teach with empathy, clarity, and intentionality.

My instructional design emphasizes scaffolded input and conceptual clarity. I reduce cognitive load by layering language structures from simple to complex. I progress from “to eat,” to “to eat lunch,” to “to eat lunch in the library,” and embed gesture, modeling, visuals, and real-life contexts. These strategies help students build meaning naturally and develop conceptual understanding rather than memorize disconnected forms. Scenario-based tasks, such as making urgent phone calls or negotiating meaning under time constraints, allow students to use Chinese authentically and develop communicative agency.

Intercultural exploration is central to my classroom. I guide students to understand not only how Chinese works linguistically, but how language reflects values, relationships, and cultural logic. Whether discussing humility in phrases like “哪里哪里” or navigating sensitive topics with care and awareness, I encourage students to view culture as perspective-taking rather than static facts. My aim is to help learners become thoughtful, empathetic participants in a multilingual world. As I look ahead, I am committed to deepening my expertise in concept-based curriculum design, integrating AI to support interactive practice, and strengthening advisory and wellbeing approaches for adolescents. I hope to contribute to a learning community where students feel safe to explore, eager to question, and proud of their growth as multilingual, globally minded individuals.

At the center of my teaching is a simple truth: students learn best in classrooms built on trust, joy, and human connection. These values guide my teaching every day, and they are the commitments I hope to bring to your school.

The practices described above reflect how I adapt my teaching to international and secondary school settings. For readers who would like to understand the deeper roots of my pedagogy and how trust, emotional safety, intercultural competence, and responsive teaching shape my classroom, the full version of my teaching philosophy is included below. This longer statement was originally written for higher education contexts, yet it continues to guide my work across all learning environments.

Section 2: Full Teaching Philosophy

What I Believe

I believe that language education is not only a system of grammar and vocabulary, but a human space shaped by trust, emotional safety, and intercultural confidence. A language classroom should be a place where students feel seen, supported, and brave enough to express who they are. Real learning begins when students feel safe enough to take risks, make mistakes, and open themselves to new perspectives.

A Question That Defines My Teaching

On November 12, 2025, during the Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate Meeting at Cornell University, I raised a question that reflects the core of my teaching philosophy:

“Will intercultural competence, trust, and emotional safety be taken into account in the evaluation of a Teaching Professor?”

This question has stayed with me because the most meaningful parts of language learning cannot be fully captured by exams or standardized rubrics. They live in the relationships we build, the confidence we nurture, and the cultural worlds we help students enter.

Why This Matters

Language is human. It shapes identity, worldviews, and connection. A classroom that honors trust and emotional safety becomes more than a place of instruction. It becomes a space where students grow into more open, confident, and culturally aware people. This vision guides my teaching every day.

Trust, Joy, and Human Connection 

At the heart of my teaching is a commitment to creating a classroom where trust, joy, and human connection make learning possible. I still remember my very first class teaching about the four tones of Chinese, mā, má, mǎ, mà. The room was initially quiet and uncertain, but soon filled with laughter. I do not recall every detail of that class, but I can still vividly remember the sense of trust that emerged. At that moment, the classroom became a safe place where students could relax, share, and genuinely enjoy learning together. I love teaching because I witness genuine human connections that remind me what education is truly about. To me, the essence of education is creating a space where students can be fully themselves. Teaching Chinese is not only about linguistic knowledge, but about helping students build courage, curiosity, critical thinking, and intercultural understanding. Chinese is not just a language, but a way of seeing the world differently.

Student-Centered Practice and Equitable Classroom Design 

A turning point early in my career taught me that student-centered teaching must be practiced rather than proclaimed. After a Mandarin Pinyin competition, one student expressed frustration, which truly surprised me. What I found playful and exciting had created pressure for a student with no Mandarin background, especially when competing with heritage speakers. From that moment, I learned that fairness does not mean giving every student the same task. I began offering non-heritage speakers more wait time, redesigned activities to be collaborative instead of competitive, and adjusted expectations to give heritage learners appropriately challenging extensions. This experience reshaped how I design every class. I learned that my responsibility is not to create tasks I personally enjoy, but to understand how each individual experiences the learning process.

Teaching in the Moment: Improvised Input and Responsive Pedagogy

I also discovered that truly student-centered teaching requires responding to what emerges in the moment. Once, during class, a student unexpectedly walked in looking for her Apple Pencil, and the room froze with awkwardness. Instead of ignoring the interruption, I turned it into an improvised input moment by asking “那个女的想做什么?” which means “What did that woman want to do?” and expanding it into the structure we were learning: “她不找苹果笔不行,” which means “She cannot go without finding her Apple Pencil.” Both expressions, “想做什么,” which expresses intention, and “不…不行,” which indicates that something is required or must be done, were the grammar points of that day. What began as a disruption quickly became a humorous, low-pressure language opportunity that eased tension and reinforced grammar in a meaningful context. These spontaneous exchanges often become the moments students remember most because they feel natural, warm, and rooted in authentic communication.

Seeing Students: Emotional Presence and Individualized Support 

One of my strengths as a teacher is my ability to make students feel seen, supported, and emotionally safe. I pay close attention to subtle shifts in students’ expressions, energy, and hesitation. Once, I noticed a student whose face turned red and whose hands trembled. I invited her to meet during office hours, where she shared that she felt intense peer pressure during class. She “blanked out” because she believed everyone was watching her. I reassured her that mistakes are part of learning and asked how she felt speaking one-on-one. She said she felt comfortable. I taught her grounding techniques, encouraged her to breathe before speaking, and showed her a simpler way to produce language: reduce overthinking, repeat naturally, and use spaced practice before bed and after waking up. This moment reinforced that emotional presence is as important as instructional clarity. When students feel seen and supported, they are more willing to take risks, speak more freely, and engage more deeply.

Scaffolded Input and Cognitive Accessibility 

To support novice learners, I rely on intentional scaffolding that reduces cognitive load and builds confidence step by step. Many beginners find Chinese intimidating due to tonal differences, pronunciation patterns, and unfamiliar structures. My classes often begin with a simple phrase such as “to eat,” progress to “to eat lunch,” and eventually expand into “to eat lunch in the library.” This layered progression helps students follow meaning naturally and experience immediate success. I consistently incorporate visuals, gestures, modeling, and real-life scenarios to create comprehensible input that is clear, embodied, and purposeful. For input activities to be effective, I believe they must be grounded in authenticity and cognitive accessibility.

Interactive Learning and Real-World Communication

Interactive, scenario-based learning enables students to use Chinese with purpose, urgency, and real communicative need. In one classroom activity, students made an urgent request over the phone. They navigated the time pressure, negotiated meaning, and selected expressions under authentic constraints. The cognitive challenge became productive: they retrieved vocabulary with support, repeated meaningfully during peer practice, and used language with increasing confidence. Participation noticeably shifted: students spoke more willingly, collaborated actively, and expressed pride in completing the task. Experiences like this affirm my belief that meaningful interaction empowers students to see themselves as capable Chinese users.

Intercultural Understanding and Perspective Taking 

Intercultural teaching is also central to my approach. I help students understand that Chinese is not simply a linguistic system, but a way of perceiving relationships, values and social contexts. Once, a student asked in Chinese, “Is Taiwan part of China?” Although the sentence was grammatically correct, it carried political weight. To protect emotional safety, I gently redirected the conversation in Chinese and later clarified in English that curiosity is welcome, but sensitive topics require contextual awareness and respect for different perspectives. Everyday cultural encounters such as bargaining practices or modest expressions like “nali nali,” a culturally expected way of declining praise to show humility, become opportunities to examine cultural logic, relational thinking, and varying norms of politeness. My goal is to cultivate perspective taking, cultural awareness, and critical reflection, rather than seek simplistic explanations.

Teaching Identity and Core Commitments 

Over the years, my teaching has evolved from emphasizing methods to centering students’ lived experiences. This growth came from deeper reflection, stronger emotional sensitivity, and a clearer understanding of how individuals learn. I now prioritize student voices, emotional safety, and individualized support. My teaching identity is rooted in empathy, trust, and a student-centered mindset. I hope students see me as inspiring, supportive, and understanding, because I work intentionally to recognize their needs and create a space where they feel safe to participate. Interactive learning remains one of my core strengths and allows me to ensure that every student feels seen. I chose to teach at the college level because university students are often searching for direction, and I hope to accompany them on that journey.

Looking Ahead: Innovation, AI, and Intercultural Growth

Looking ahead, I hope to design more theme-based curricula, integrate AI into interactive learning, and strengthen intercultural critical thinking. My vision is to build a classroom that is free, curious, safe, respectful, and thought-provoking. I hope students leave my class believing that learning happens best in spaces built on trust, joy, and genuine human connection.