Primary

Ms Helena McDonough is from England and studied at London Southbank University. She has started teaching since 1997 and has extensive experience in England, North Africa and China, covering all aspects of primary teaching and education consultancy as a Head of English and Curriculum Co-ordinator. She has also co-founded and directed a British independent school before.

Ms McDonough is currently the Head of Primary (Academic) in YWIES Yantai, and is actively engaged in developing professional development projects for international teachers. She is passionate about teaching, and hopes to pass on her love of learning to her students. She also hopes her students can feel the enjoyment and satisfaction from classes. Project-based learning is her passion and she enjoys passing on her skills and knowledge to other teachers.

Ms Lulu Zhang graduated with a major in English Education from Fuyang Teacher’s College in Anhui Province. She joined YWIES Yantai in April 2007 as a bilingual teacher.She is currently the Head of Primary (Pastoral) and has taught Grade 5 English subjects, which includes Mathematics (English), Spelling and ICT. She is recognised for her strict teaching and her focus on active class participation and building student confidence. She also works diligently in class management and encourages effective study habits and appropriate behaviour.

Ms Jane Qi was raised in Changchun, Jilin. She gained her master's degree in Ludong University in 2018. She has been a bilingual teacher at YWIES Yantai for 11 years. She is passionate about teaching Mathematics (English) and encourages all her students to use Mathematics in their daily life. This year, she will be teaching Mathematics (English), Mathematics (Foreign Stream) as well as being the form tutor for Grade 4A. She likes reading and sports.

Ms Michelle Wang was raised in Yantai and has earned her bachelor's degree in English from Qilu University of Technology. She has been teaching English for primary students of YWIES Yantai since 2013, and she is currently the Lower Primary Co-ordinator. Her trilingual ability in Chinese, English as well as Korean allows her to understand the students well in her role of form tutor. In Mathematics (English) and Topic classes, she continuously guides students to observe, experiment, think and question in order to cultivate their creative thinking and innovation ability. She is also good at using new technologies and appling them to her classroom teaching. She is responsible for the primary IT club for Co-curricular Activities.

Mr Leon Huang graduated from International Education Exchange Institute, Yantai University with a bachelor's degree in Chinese as a Foreign Language, and has been teaching in YWIES Yantai since his graduation. He has accumulated rich experience in teaching Chinese in upper primary, and also brought lively and interesting CSL (Chinese as a Second Language) lessons to lower secondary students. In addition, he pays attention to the cultivation of students' interest in Chinese culture and good learning habits.

Mr Huang is also responsible for coordinating various departments to ensure the safe and stable operation of the school, and to create a safe campus for teachers and students.

Jessica Yang comes from Shandong province, and graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Ludong University in 1997 before she joined YWIES-YT in 2008. Now she works as the Chinese National Coordinator in Primary and also teaches Chinese in G3 and G4. With more than 20 years of working experience, she has not only rich teaching experience, but also an open international vision. She adheres to the idea of "Holistic Education", pays attention to students' independent learning ability through rich classroom activities and she cares for the growth of every student.

Ivan Wang, graduated from Qingdao University in 2016. He majored in International Economics and Trade. Coming from generations of teachers, Ivan understands the complexities of teaching and learning in a primary school. Ivan taught for 2 years as an English teacher before moving to YWIES. His educational ethos stems from John A.C Hattie’s research” Accomplishing the maximum impact on student learning depends on teams of teachers working together.” Ivan enjoys actively working within teams to maximize his students ‘success and also developes his skills. Ivan’s ambition is to become competent in all aspects of teaching in order to pass on his knowledge to others and also ensure that his pupils feel comfortable and safe in the school.

Ms Laura Gu graduated from Ludong University with a bachelor's degree in art education in 1998 and has more than 20 years’ art teaching experience. She has been teaching primary and secondary students in YWIES Yantai since the beginning. She advocates cooperative teaching and pays attention to the development of students' personality. She is also a careful and patient teacher, who is willing to listen to children's questions and voices. She provides students with an artistic creative environment and various opportunities to show their talents, so that children can grow up happily in the art field.

Ms Helen Hu graduated from Heilongjiang Education College, with a major in Chinese. After her graduation, she has been working as a Chinese teacher, and has won lots of municipal, provincial and national awards.

Ms Hu believes that teaching is an art, while teaching language is more than an art. With reference to the internal relationship between children's physical and mental development level, and their Chinese knowledge and ability, teachers should cultivate children's love for Chinese language and characters step-by-step. What's more is to help lay a solid foundation of literacy and allow them to experience the beauty and charm of Chinese characters, to immerserse themselves in the joy of reading, and to express their emotions with the most beautiful language in the world.

Ms Sunny Sun graduated from Shandong Normal University, with a major in Chinese Language. She has served as a primary and secondary Chinese teacher, as well as a form tutor. She has never stopped exploring about Chinese courses and psychology for the past 20 years. She understands students’ natural characteristics, and respects how individual students grow with their different emotional needs in their growth stage. She focuses on cultivating students’ interest in learning and self-study ability, and enables students to grow both in class and outside class. She is willing to work with parents to help students get through the difficulties and challenges of growing up.

Yvonne Bian, graduated from Beijing Normal University with a Master’s degree in subject teaching (Chinese) in 2013. After graduation, Mrs. Bian advocates guided-teaching and students participating actively in her class. By consolidating students' Chinese foundation and improving their Chinese abilities, she guides them to form a love for the Chinese language and culture. Her diverse and enthusiastic teaching methods are well received by her students.

Ms Jane Yang gained her master's degree at the International Education Institute of Shandong University. After graduation, she taught Chinese for two years at the Thailand Royal University, and accumulated rich experience in Chinese international education and won the title of Excellent Overseas Chinese Teacher. She then came back to Yantai and joined YWIES Yantai. During the past six years, she has been working as a Primary and Secondary Chinese teacher. Her innovative teaching methods constantly encourages students to experiment. She has been committed to innovative practice of Chinese teaching in international schools. She cares for students even after classes, including focusing on their physical and mental growth, communicating with parents in time, helping students solve their problems, and becoming good friends with them.

Ms Catherine Yang graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages at Ludong University, with a major in English, and furthered her study in the same university, with a major in foreign linguistics and applied linguistics. After post-graduation, she served in YWIES Yantai as a bilingual teacher. During her nine years of work, she has been constantly studying and exploring, and has accumulated a wealth of teaching experience in the primary section. She suggests a student-centred heuristic teaching and tries to create a vivid classroom atmosphere. She also pays attention to the development of students' ability and encourages students to actively participate in class. She hopes students can enjoy happy learning and steadily improve their own practical skills, and also cultivate good behaviour.

After graduating from university, Ms Wendy Wang has been working as a Primary Mathematics teacher. She has won the honourary titles of Excellent Teacher and Excellent Form Tutor on the province, city and district levels respectively. She has also won many awards for her papers, and has served as the head of grade, head of Mathematics teaching and research group, and director of educational administration. After joining YWIES Yantai, she has been committed to the integration of text books, differentiated teaching and innovative teaching methods. She pays attention to the cultivation of students' mathematical logical thinking ability and inquiry learning. She is good at teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and heuristic teaching. She likes to get along with students, communicate sincerely with them and pay attention to the growth of each child.

Ms Nina Jiang graduated from Qiqihar University in 2008, with a major in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. She has engaged in secondary mathematics teaching for more than 10 years, and has taught many graduating classes and gained more in-depth understanding of the teaching system. She has also won Excellence Award multiple times in some teacher leacturing competitions.

Ms Jenny Zhang graduated from Shandong Youth College of Arts, with a major in Music. She joined YWIES Yantai 17 years ago. This year, she teaches primary music, dancing and orchestra instruments. She advocates exploration-based teaching and learning with various class activities, for example singing, performing, practicing instrument, dancing and games, which makes her students’ favorite teacher. Through team collaboration and innovation, students are encouraged for active participation and their potential can be fully explored. She likes chorus singing, yoga and playing the violin.