不计辛勤耕耘 只为春色满园
To me, teaching is a craft. Craftsmanship starts with something I truly love, then experiencing and learning everything about it, and finally sharing it for others to enjoy.
The moment I enter my classroom as a teacher and see all those young faces looking at me, I am ready to be a counselor, comedian, friend, nurse, coach, judge, party planner, police officer, tour guide, decorator, psychic, cook, substitute parent, or General Gao as my students often call me.
My classroom is a world of discovery, of kindness and caring, a fast developing world. From 30 years of classroom innovation I developed my own teaching materials and method based on rhythm and rhymes. The world of noise, nouns and verbs, and the beat of rhythm and rhymes is my world. And I am so lucky to be in it.
My approach? I weave everything – language, culture, history, geography, philosophy, rhythm, games, art, current events – into a framework that helps students develop a context and their own passion for learning Chinese. A dose of fun, motivation, and wisdom creates an unforgettable experience for all learners. My fierce passion is to make Chinese the easiest language to learn, and I look forward to sharing that with you!
Jian Gao’s Bio
Jian Gao built one of the most successful Chinese programs in the nation at Belmont Hill School of Massachusetts, where students won numerous top prizes at the international and national “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for High School Students held annually in China and in America. Many of her students placed out of the foreign language requirement at their universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Brown, Tufts just to name a few.
Jian Gao is an author of five books. Chinese Breeze – Learn with Ease is an innovative two-level course for junior high or high school students. The other three books, Rhymes & Rhythm for Learning Chinese, are supplementary books for teachers of Chinese.
Teachers and administrators came from all over the nation to observe Jian Gao’s teaching, and walked away feeling inspired, excited, energized, and most of all, with a vision for creating a learning environment where teachers love to teach and students love to learn. A dynamic presenter at professional conferences, Jian Gao is frequently invited to share her systematically developed materials and her innovative and effective teaching methods – all proven successful in her own teaching.
Currently, Jian Gao is helping Monomoy Regional School District build the new Chinese program, and teaches students ranging from 5th grade to 12th grade. Also, She is the Program Specialist at Confucius Institute of University of Massachusetts Boston, designing the Effective Teacher Workshop Series, working with classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, and administrators to create a comprehensive Chinese curriculum that keeps the proficiency standards, instruction, and assessment tightly focused and connected.