Chinese STARTALK Program

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Our Team

Come take a look at our team of staff and faculty here to give you the best STARTALK experience. You can view each of us in more detail by clicking on the expand menu. Don’t hesitate to email startalk@northeastern.edu if you have any questions or concerns!

Minghui Anderson, Instructor

Minghui (Ming) teaches 9th-12th grade Mandarin as a foreign language, AP Chinese Language and Culture at Sacred Heart Preparatory, Atherton, California. Prior STARTALK experience: 

  • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Participant, 2010 and 2012
  • Berkeley STARTALK Student and Teacher Program Master Teacher, 2013
  • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Master Teacher, 2014-2017  
  • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Master Teacher, 2018
  • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Method II: IPA Workshop Participant, 2018
Ann Cai, Chatbot Program Coordinator

Ann Cai is an associate teaching professor at the World Language Center at Northeastern University. She has sixteen years of experience teaching Chinese as a foreign language at the college level. In her role as the STARTALK program coordinator, she will be responsible for overall coordination of the AI Chatbot program development, implementation, and training activities.

Henny Chen, Instructional Lead

Henny has been teaching 9th-12th Mandarin at Moreau Catholic High school since 2007 and Mandarin 1A and 1B at Chabot College in Hayward, California since 2016. She has been involved with the STARTALK program since its inception in 2007. She started as an instructor in 2007 and as a participant in 2008-2012. In recent years, she has been a teacher trainer, technology coordinator, program model designer, lead instructor, as well as a site visitor.    

Yaru Chen, Instructor

Yaru (Julie) teaches 9th-12th grade Mandarin as a foreign language and AP Chinese Language and Culture at Junipero Serra High School, California. Prior STARTALK experience: 

  • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Participant, 2008
  • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Participant, 2010
  • Stanford STARTALK Teacher Program Participant, 2011
  • Mandarin Institute SFUSD Startalk Student Program Master Teacher, 2012-2014 
  • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Program Coordinator, 2018
  • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Method II: IPA Workshop Participant, 2018
Yen-Hsia Chiu, Tech Assistant

Yen-Hsia Chiu teaches level 3 Mandarin as a foreign language at Mandarin Language and Cultural Center, California. Prior STARTALK experience:

  • Berkeley Startalk Summer Teacher Program Participant 2016
  • Berkeley Startalk Summer Program On-line TA and Technology Assistant  2017
  • NDNU Startalk Summer ProgramOn-line TA and On-site Technology Assistant 2018
  • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Method II: IPA Workshop Assistant and Participant 2018
Hui-Hua Chuang, Instructor

Hui-Hua ( Sophie) teaches 7th-12th grade Mandarin as a foreign language, AP Chinese Language and Culture at Albany High School, California. Prior STARTALK experience:

  • Stanford STARTALK Participant, 2010
  •   Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Participant, 2013
  •   Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Technology support, 2014
  •   Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Master Teacher,2015-2017 
  • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Master Teacher, 2018
  •   NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Method II: IPA Workshop Participant, 2018
Dino Konstantopoulos, Educational Technology Consultant and Developer

Dino Konstantopoulos is an associate teaching professor at the College of Engineering’s Multidisciplinary Graduate program at Northeastern University. In his role as the STARTALK Technology consultant and developer, Dino is responsible for the design and implementation of a next-generation Chatbot geared to beginner Chinese learners. Traditional chatbots and especially Chinese chatbots expect a level of proficiency in the language to interact with human speakers, making their use challenging to non-native Chinese speakers.

    Li-Yun Lu, Instructor

    Li-Yun teaches 9th-12th grade Mandarin as a foreign language,  IBDP Chinese, AP Chinese Language and Culture at Quarry Lane School, California. Prior STARTALK experience:

    • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Participant, 2010, 2011
    • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Technology support, 2012
    • Berkeley STARTALK Student and Teacher Program Master Teacher, 2013
    • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Master Teacher, 2014-2017 
    • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Curriculum Coordinator, 2018
    • NDNU STARTALK Teacher Program Method II: IPA Workshop Participant, 2018
    Vanessa Wei, Program Director

    Vanessa is the assistant teaching professor at the World Language Center at Northeastern University. She has fifteen years of experience teaching Chinese as a foreign language at the high school and college level. She has been involved with STARTALK since 2017. In her role as the STARTALK program director, she supports the curriculum development and oversees the program.

    Faye-Lynn Wu, Instructor

    Faye is a middle School Mandarin Chinese Teacher at Bentley school in Oakland, California. Prior STARTALK experience:

    • Berkeley Startalk Summer Teacher Program participant, 2009, 2011
    • Berkeley STARTALK Teacher Program Coordinator 2013, 2014, 2017
    • Berkeley Startalk Summer Program Master Teacher 2015, 2016
    • NDNU Startalk Summer Program Master Teacher 2018