About Me

Dear Students & Families, 💜💙

I am ecstatic to start my 23rd year at Cambrian, teaching 8th grade English Language Arts, US History, and our ASB-Leadership elective. 

Since Steindorf's inaugural year, I have served as the Teacher On Special Assignment (TOSA) in 2016, supporting our teachers in Professional Development with district initiatives, providing training for new teachers, and managing intervention support programs. In 2018, I had the opportunity to teach the 8th grade Core and STEAM TV elective half-time while continuing as a TOSA supporting both Steindorf and Farnham Elementary School. When I returned to the classroom, I immediately fell in love with our Steindorf students and realized how much I missed teaching. Needless to say, I was beyond grateful when the stars aligned for this perfect opportunity. :) 

Before becoming a TOSA, I had the wonderfully diverse experience of teaching 6th grade ELA at Price Middle School for ten years, then Transitional Kindergarten at Fammatre Elementary for two years.

Fluent in Vietnamese and conversational in Chinese, I have always been curious about how language is acquired and developed over time. After earning my Bachelor's degree and Teaching Credential at UC Davis, I taught English in Shanghai, China, for a year. I developed English curricula for a Kindergarten and High School Language Programs. I also took some time off and had the most amazing experience of my life, traveling through China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, then backpacking with my sister through Spain, France, and England.

In continuing my studies in language development, I returned to school to earn my Master's at SJSU and an Administrative Services credential through LEAP at SCCOE. While teaching ELA & ELD to English Learners, I became intrigued by the BeGLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) strategies and trained for several years to become one of our district's Certified Agency Trainers. 

During my off-season, I enjoy traveling, playing volleyball, swimming, chilling out with my ukulele and lyre harp, baking goodies with my son, curling up with a good book, meditating through yoga, and, of course, listening to and dancing to BTS songs.

My life goals are to build & live in a tiny house, write children's books and novels, and visit every country in the world.

My life motto is "Always love yourself because YOU don't need permission to dance."

I can't wait to meet my new class of students and families and share my love of learning with everyone.

With lots of LOVE and HUGS,

Ms. Chieng 💟