Meet The Team: Sisi 思斯

I am a graduate in Chinese literature with three years experience teaching Mandarin Chinese both as a foreign language to adult students and as a first language to children in primary schools. I love teaching and helping children achieve their potential.

When I was little, my grandad was the primary school teacher in the small rural village where I grew up. Watching him teach, and the satisfaction students learning gave him was really inspiring, and I decided I wanted to be a teacher.

At university whilst studying I worked part time at a local language school, while there I was helping non-native speakers study Mandarin. Many of them had never learnt any Mandarin before, so it was an interesting challenge.

Where I lived and worked in China children learn Zhuang as their first language. I love Zhuang, but - to get ahead in China - excellent Mandarin is essential, and teaching Mandarin to these children was a fun and rewarding challenge.

A year before I moved to the UK I was one of 7 teachers selected to go on secondment to an experimental primary school in Guangzhou. This was an incredible opportunity, where I learnt a different set of teaching techniques that broadened my horizons. The illuminating differences in teaching between an urban and rural environment helped me better tailor my teaching to each student.

Outside of work my favourite pastime is cooking, along with practicing and learning both Chinese calligraphy and Wing Chun Kung Fu. I love my native Chinese culture, and celebrate as many festivals as I can. I believe that an understanding of Chinese culture as well as technical language skills give all learners the best and most fulfilling learning experience.