{"id":692,"date":"2021-06-07T20:48:15","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T00:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/?page_id=692"},"modified":"2021-06-11T11:22:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T15:22:35","slug":"staff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kimberly Besio, Program Director and Instructor, Combined Program<\/h5>\n\n\n
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Kimberly Besio is Ziskind Professor of East Asian Studies at Colby College in Waterville ME where she has been teaching Chinese language and literature for 27 years. She has served as Chair of the Colby College Department of East Asian Studies for twelve years total. She has further administrative experience through her role as Colby College Humanities Division Chair (2012-14), as a member of the Colby Liberal Arts Symposium Planning Committee (2013-2018), and as a member of the planning committee for the conference \u201cLearning Chinese in Maine\u201d held in 2007. She served as Program Director for our Colby STARTALK Program \u201cLearning and Teaching Chinese Through Art\u201d in summer 2018. <\/p>\n

In addition to having served as Program Director to a STARTALK program last summer, she has been teaching Chinese language as a graduate student instructor at UC Berkeley, as a visiting instructor at University of Minnesota, and then as a professor at Colby for 34 years, and has been teaching Chinese literature in English translation classes at UM and Colby for 30 years. During the 2009-10 year she served as co-coordinator of the Colby College Department of East Asian Studies outreach efforts consisting of multiple visits to the local library and the elementary after school program in the Waterville community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Andie Wang, Lead Instructor, Teacher Program<\/h5>\n\n\n
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Andie Wang has a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction, specialized in second language education. She has been teaching Chinese in the US since 2008. She was instructor for the STARTALK teacher program on Chinese culture teaching housed at the University of Minnesota, three times in a row from summer 2014 to 2016 (lead instructor in 2016) and served as the Instructional Lead for the Colby \u201cTeaching and Learning Chinese through Art\u201d STARTALK program in summer 2018.   <\/p>\n

While in Minnesota, she also worked as instructor and teaching assistants for multiple teacher education courses in the licensure program there. She has presented on language teacher learning in conferences for multiple times and has three publications and a doctoral dissertation on language teachers\u2019 culture identity development. She worked as Intercultural Competence Specialist at the Language Center at the University of Minnesota, to promote and support instructors to develop culture-rich curricula across language programs at the university.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Qingling Mendenhall, Lead Instructor, Summer Camp<\/h5>\n\n\n
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Ms. Mendenhall grew up in China. Her undergraduate degree was in Chinese Language and Literature, and she is highly proficient in both Chinese language and Chinese culture. Ms. Mendenhall\u2019s masters degree is in Education, with a special focus on second-language acquisition. She has served for 12+ years as a Chinese language teacher in Minnesota. She is very familiar with common psycho-social and interpersonal characteristics of 8 to 11 year olds, and effective in engaging them across individual-, small group-, and large group- formats in learning, problem-solving, and co-producing new knowledge and classroom products. Ms. Mendenhall has also engaged in mentoring student teachers in language licensure programs; she maintains years of experience in guiding and supervising pre-service and novice teachers. <\/p>\n

Ms. Mendenhall served as consultant to the Colby STARTALK program during the summer of 2018, wherein she presented lectures on teaching art in Chinese to elementary-age students, and classroom management in the elementary school classroom. Today, she continues to work actively with STARTALK to design and advance innovative curriculum that is consistent with the program\u2019s core principles for effective teaching and learning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dilu Shi, Instructor, Summer Camp<\/h5>\n\n\n
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Ms. Shi grew up in China. Her undergraduate degree was in English and she taught in China before immigrating to the United States. After her immigration, Ms. Shi leveraged her proficiency in teaching to a third grade teaching assignment with Hopkins Public School District and to obtain a Master of Arts in Teaching from Hamline University in Saint Paul, MN. \u2022 Ms. Shi is highly proficient in both Chinese language and Chinese culture, as well as fully-fluent \/ proficient in English. Withher 9+ years of service at Hopkins Public School district, she is very familiar with American culture and the U.S. education system. <\/p>\n

Ms. Shi has been working with third grade students for 8+ years as a full-time Chinese Immersion classroom teacher. She is very familiar with common psycho-social attributes and the characteristics of her students. Throughout her experience, Ms. Shi paid careful attention to her professional development and is an active members of various trainings and committees. She continuously leverages what she has learned to modify the teaching strategies and classroom management skills in her classroom.<\/p>\n

Ms. Shi is engaged in Hopkins Public School\u2019s Gifted & Talented program. She has designed and implemented the third grade\u2019s Math and Chinese language art Enrichment curriculum.<\/p>\n

Aside from being an experienced teacher, Ms. Shi also engages in student-teaching of graduating teachers and mentorship of novice teachers. Ms. Shi engages newer teachers in a combination of observer, co-instructor, and lead-instructor to engage and empowers them in the development of their own skills in classroom management, learning content and instructional strategies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ankeney Weitz, Instructor and Director of Art Programming, Combined Program<\/h5>\n\n\n
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Ankeney Weitz has a PhD. in Chinese art history and has been teaching courses on Chinese and East Asian art history at the university level since 1994. She has also participated in numerous teacher training programs for Maine K-12 teachers, which were administered through Primary Source in New England and the Maine Endowment for the Humanities. <\/p>\n

In the course of her work at Colby, she has curated or co-curated many exhibitions of Chinese and East Asian art at the Colby College Museum of Art. In most instances, she worked with the staff of the museum and with Colby students to develop lesson plans for teachers. She therefore has experience in evaluating and providing feedback on lesson plans for Chinese art and on instructional methods suitable for delivering the material.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Caiyun Zhou, Instructor, Summer Camp<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Mrs. Zhou, who grew up in China, is currently a Chinese language teacher. Her undergraduate degree was in Early Childhood Education. She has served for 18+ years as a Chinese language teacher, both in China and USA. Mrs. Zhou’s is highly proficient in both Chinese language and Chinese culture, as she has previous experiences as a principal, assistant director, director, and lead teacher. Throughout her years of teaching, she has worked with children ranging from ages 3-18 in classroom settings, private lessons, group lessons, and summer camps. In addition, Mrs. Zhou is also skilled in Chinese Paper Cutting, Kung Fu, and Lion Dance. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Dominic Bellido, Student Assistant, Summer Camp<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n
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Dominic Bellido is a rising sophomore at Colby College in Waterville ME, majoring in English and minoring in Chinese. Originally from Connecticut, Dominic has taken Chinese classes for the past 5 years, and studied abroad at Xiamen University during the summer of 2019. He has been working as a research assistant for Professor Andie Wang during his first year at Colby, gaining experience in the field of second-language acquisition and Chinese corrective feedback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Nicole Matamoros, Student Assistant, Summer Camp<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Nicole is a rising junior at Colby College in Waterville, ME, majoring in Computer Science and East Asian Studies. At Colby she is a tutor in the CS department and served as a mentor for middle school students in the Waterville area interested in coding. Originally from rural North Carolina, she is excited to give Maine children new opportunities through the Startalk program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Xufeng Sun, Student Assistant, Summer Camp<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n
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Susannah Swann is a rising junior at Colby College in Waterville, ME, majoring in Environmental Science with a concentration in public health, and minoring in Chinese. In addition to four years of Chinese studies, she has also completed market research for a Chinese environmental consulting company. On Colby\u2019s campus, she is the Quality Improvement officer for Colby\u2019s Emergency Response team, and also serves as an EMT for Delta Ambulance Corporation. With experience as a student mentor for Colby Cares of Kids and counselor at spring camps, she is excited to share her enthusiasm for Chinese language and culture!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Xufeng Sun, Student Assistant, Summer Camp<\/h5>\n\n\n
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Xufeng Sun grew up in Shenzhen, China. He is a rising sophomore at Colby College in Waterville, ME, majoring in Biology with a concentration in Neuroscience and minoring in Cinema Study and Japanese. He is the research assistant for the Sociology department at Colby and also works as a multimedia producer for Colby\u2019s Campus Communication. In China, he is very interested in Classic Chinese poems and paintings. Having been in the United States since high school, he is very confident that he can share Chinese culture with his students in ways that are both authentic and fun!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Shuran Yang, Student Assistant, Summer Camp<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n
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Shuran Yang grew up in China. She is a rising junior at Colby College in Waterville ME\uff0c majoring in Psychology and Neuroscience and minoring in Education. At Colby, she was a learning assistant for the Psychology department and a Chinese tutor for the East Asian Study department. She has been a CCAK mentor for a local child for one year. Outside of school, she has been the founder and organizer of a voluntary teaching program in Guizhou, China, which assists the literacy and Mandarin education for children from the Dong minority group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kimberly Besio, Program Director and Instructor, Combined Program Kimberly Besio is Ziskind Professor of East Asian Studies at Colby College in Waterville ME where she has been teaching Chinese language and literature for 27 years. She has served as Chair of the Colby College Department of East Asian Studies for twelve years total. She has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10944,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":736,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/692\/revisions\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/startalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}