Program Director: Dr. Lini Ge Polin

Dr. Lini Ge Polin is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Polin received her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the School of Education at UNC-Chapel Hill, and M.A. in Journalism and M.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language from the University of Iowa. She has extensive experience in teaching Chinese as a second language in the U.S. and is a recipient of the Student Undergraduate Teaching Award at UNC Chapel Hill. Polin is a certified ACTFL OPI tester in Chinese. Her teaching strengths include technology-enhanced curriculum design, task-based instruction, and performance-based assessment using ACTFL proficiency standards. She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the ACTFL Research Special Interest Group and the Treasurer of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of North Carolina (CLTA-NC). Polin has rich experience in organizing and facilitating professional development events for fellow language teachers. In the summer of 2021, she served as a mentor teacher in the UNC-Greensboro STARTALK Chinese Teacher Program, and also taught in the Winston-Salem State University STARTALK Student Program.

K-12 Pedagogical Expert: Qiang Chen

Qiang (John) Chen, is a National Board-Certified language teacher with over 30 years of teaching experience. He is one of the piloting instructors of online Chinese instruction in North Carolina. Currently, Chen is a Chinese instructor at Enloe Magnet High School, Raleigh, North Carolina. He designed the Chinese curriculum from level 1 to level 6 including AP and IB programs for the local school system and has been teaching these courses ever since. Chen has received many teaching awards, including the Yale University Outstanding Educator Award in 2019, and the Chicago University Excellent Educator Award in 2020, among others. Chen has extensive experience working with the STARTALK programs. He has been working as a site visitor and a proposal reader for STARTALK Central since 2010 and as the Lead Instructor for STARTALK Chinese Summer Institute at several universities. In addition, he is an AP Chinese reader and a reader for Chinese teachers’ license exams for the College Board. He has worked as a mentor for teachers and conducted teacher training sessions at many institutes.

Bonnie Chunmeng Wang teaches Upper School Chinese and serves as the DEE (Diversity, Equity and Engagement) Curriculum Consultant at Durham Academy in Durham, North Carolina. Wang currently serves as the K-12 representative on the board of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, U.S.A., and a board member of FLANC. She was awarded 2019 Teacher of the Year by FLANC and served as the President of CLTA-NC during 2019-2021. Wang holds an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has taught in the UVA STARTALK student program in 2019 and WSSU STARTALK student program in 2021 and served as a mentor teacher for the UNCG STARTALK teacher program in 2021. Wang is a certified ACTFL OPI tester in Chinese and has presented at teacher training workshops in various topics at multiple conferences including FLANC and ACTFL. Recently, she was the featured presenter at the 2021 ACTFL Spring Learning Series and Summer Learning Series focusing on incorporating social justice in world languages curriculum.

Also serving as the technology specialist, Wang has rich experience integrating technology into the curriculum and promoting its effectiveness. In the summers of 2018 and 2019, Wang ​​facilitated the Technology Lab at the University of Pennsylvania STARTALK teacher training program. She was also invited as the guest speaker for technology workshops at Chicago Public Schools in 2020 and UNCG STARTALK teacher program in 2021.