Faculty and Staff
Founders
Jie Moore, Head of School – B.S. in Biology from Beijing University, and Ph.D. in Sociology from University of Washington. After graduate school, Jie worked as a Research Scientist at the University of Washington for six years during which she studied a variety of issues related to academic and social/emotional development among children and adolescents. Through her research, she began to think it might be beneficial to children in the United States if we could combine the best educational approaches and cultural perspectives of China and the United States. This early thought, coupled with a series of events in the last few years (such as having a child of her own and failing to find a satisfactory Mandarin immersion program in the East Bay area), triggered her decision to start Shu Ren.
Tony Moore, CFO – Waikato University, New Zealand, ACA and member of the New Zealand Society of Accountants. Tony’s role at Shu Ren will be primarily in finance and IT. He is currently President of Kiwi Consulting, Inc. providing financial and accounting consultation services to the construction industry.
Consultant
Anne-Marie Pierce – President of A.M.P & Associates which provides educational consulting services to independent and international schools. Anne-Marie was the Head of Washington International School in Washington D.C. from 1991 – 2001 and the Head of Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley in Berkeley, California from 1980 – 1989. She also serves as a board member for French – American International School – International High School, IBO board and committees, California Association of Independent Schools, and Board of International School Associations.
School Administration
Ping Xie, Office Manager – A native of Beijing, Ping Xie received her BA degree in Electrical Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology. She was then accepted to the MBA program at California State University Los Angeles. She left the corporate world after 8 years to become a full-time mom. She has always been interested in bilingual and bicultural education and has taught Mandarin to adults in various institutions. Her duties at Shu Ren will include assisting the Head of School in school administration, assisting the Chief Financial Officer in bookkeeping and other financial matters, answering questions related to school activities, and supporting teachers with their needs.
Teachers
Meng-Pei Chen, Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator. Head Teacher for Pre-K Panda Bear Class (3-4 year olds) Teacher Chen is from Taiwan and received her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education there. She also has a Master’s Degree in Education (Curriculum and Instruction) from Dominican University of California. Before joining Shu Ren, she worked with young Mandarin learners at many schools in the Bay Area including Marin Country Day School, Wah Mei School in San Francisco, and West Protal Elementary School in San Francisco. Her educational and work experience gives her a unique perspective and understanding of early childhood education theories and practices from both the East and the West. At Shu Ren, she leads our effort to implement the IBO’s PYP curriculum, especially to design our Program of Inquiry. She also provides instruction to our pre-primary class.
Katherine Chi, Head Teacher for Pre-K Winnie Bear Class (2-3 year olds). Katherine’s passion is to teach young children through a combined Chinese and English immersion curriculum. Born and raised in California, she possesses a bilingual and bicultural background that will help her relate to her students. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Human Development from the University of California, Davis. She also has a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Boston College. Before joining Shu Ren, she worked as an Assistant Teacher in First and Second grade at The Chestnut Hill School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Kai-Yao To, Head Teacher for Kindergarten. Teacher To’s passion is to teach young children Chinese language and culture. She enjoys integrating teaching Chinese language with stories, art (Chinese brush painting), calligraphy, and history. She has been teaching Chinese language and cultural classes in the East Bay area for more than 7 years. Before joining Shu Ren, Kai Yao was a kindergarten teacher in the Chinese Program at the Cornell School, Albany Unified School District, where she taught students with vastly different levels of Chinese knowledge. She also taught Chinese brush painting at East Bay Chinese School and Albany Berkeley Chinese School. Kai-Yao brings her talent as an accomplished artist to her methods of teaching Chinese. She has a Communication Arts Degree in Zhu-Shan School, Taiwan, and had worked as a Graphic Designer and Art Director in companies in Taiwan and in the U.S. She received a “Teaching Chinese as a Heritage Language” certificate from Cal East Bay University and has passed the California Subject Examinations for Teachers (CSET) in Mandarin Subjects.
Joyce Chang, Head Teacher for First/Second Grade. Joyce received a B.A. Degree in Foreign Language Studies and an Educational Credential of Academic Subject in English at National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan. At present she is currently working on a M.A. degree in Asian American Studies at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining Shu Ren, she was a Mandarin Teacher at Garfield Elementary School in San Francisco from 2008-09 and in Harding Elementary School in El Cerrito from 2007-08. She started her teaching career in Emile Elementary School in Taichung, Taiwan, a English/Mandarin bilingual school. She is also fluent in Japanese and has been a Japanese tutor for many years. When teaching, she prefers the method of “facilitating”, rather than “dictating”. She believes this approach allows students to construct knowledge on their own and thus the knowledge is genuinely acquired. She especially enjoys bringing her knowledge of Chinese culture, history and art, especially Chinese painting, into her teaching.
Lisa Jean Cohen, English teacher. Teacher Lisa Jean is a credentialed elementary teacher with E.C.E. units and comes to us with a Masters in Education. She has taught in both public and private schools, primarily focused in the early primary grades, from Pre-K through 3rd grade. Along with her RSA Cambridge C.E.L.T.A. certification she has taught in Asia, including Hong Kong, as well as in North America for the past 2 decades. Besides her education and experience Teacher Lisa Jean brings a solid background in, and enthusiasm for, teaching inquiry-based, hands-on science. She has created a program which combines phonics with whole language and writing programs that support and enrich our classroom themes.
Suiying Feng, Pre-Primary Chinese Teacher. Teacher Feng has many years of experience teaching children, ranging in age from young children to elementary grade students in the Bay Area. She taught at Angela’s Infant Child Care Center in San Francisco, Albany-Berkeley Chinese School, Bright Star Montessori School in Albany, Central Chinese High School in San Francisco, and Milton Shoong Chinese Cultural Center in Oakland. She received a B.A. degree in Chinese from Haerbin Teacher’s College in Hei Long Jiang Province in China. She also has taken many classes in Early Childhood Education from City College of San Francisco and Merritt College.
Jiaqin Lin, Pre-Primary Chinese Teacher . Teacher Lin studied Education in Shanghai, China and taught elementary students there. Since coming to the U.S., she has studied Early Childhood Education and the Montessori Curriculum. She has been teaching Mandarin at various schools in the East Bay area, including Bright Star Montessori Preschool, Key Stone Chinese School, California Learning Connection, and Albany Berkeley Chinese School.
Helen Tao, After-school Chinese teacher. Helen has a B.A. degree from Tianjin Normal University and she has been teaching Mandarin for more than 10 years. She has been teaching Mandarin to elementary students in Keystone Chinese School in Albany in the past two years and was a Mandarin teacher at Olinda Elementary School’s After-school Program from 2007-09. She was also a professional Chinese and English web designer for many years.