Michelle Taylor – Whole School Counselor
Mrs. Taylor is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) with over 20 years of experience in mental health care. The Whole School counselor works to support students’ well-being. In secondary, she facilitates sessions on emotional health, meeting with a student individually and listening to their concerns or collaborating with parents when a student is facing a difficult situation. In primary, she works with students who need support in social and emotional skills. Mrs. Taylor collaborates with the homeroom teachers and works alongside the PSPE teachers to develop the social-emotional learning skills among the students.
Mr. Leo Cui – Makerspace
Welcome to PYP Makerspace! The Makerspace is a collaborative and safe learning space where students experience creating, exploring, and learning using technology tools and other materials. The learning spaces provide opportunities for students to turn personal ideas into reality. They undergo the process of applying the multi-disciplinary scientific and technological knowledge they have learned into practice. Makerspace has changed the way students learn in school.
Ms. Fiona Bai – Head of Teaching Assistants & Secretary to the Primary Principal
Ms. Bai has been working at XLIs for 10 years. She has participated in all IB workshops organized by the school and led sessions in the workshops for teaching assistants organized by ACAMIS. Her experiences working with different homeroom teachers and participating in the training provides her with a deep understanding of the program, working with students from diverse backgrounds and leading the teaching assistant team.
English as an Additional Language (EAL) Team
So, what exactly do the letters ‘EAL’ mean? The letters represent the phrase ‘English as an Additional Language’. It is an expression used to describe English language learners who speak a language other than English as their mother tongue. With many of the students at XLIS coming from diverse countries where English is not the language of instruction, the EAL Program is an important component in the academic success of many of our students and XLIS as a whole.
For the 2022 to 2023 academic year, the EAL team will be comprised of Eli Mardani, Tina Wei, and Terren Maves. In addition, Kelly Xing will work as part of our department offering Korean support.
Eli Mardani, who comes from Iran, will be the EAL teacher for Primary 1 and 2 this academic year. She holds her master’s degree in IMBA from New-Huadu Business School, Fuzhou, P. R. China, and has an in-depth understanding of the IB curriculum. She is not only a certified English teacher with nine years of teaching experience, but also an always up-to-date learner in her field of expertise. She is finalizing her International Postgraduate Certificate in Education (iPGCE) with TES institute in partnership with the University of East London.
Tina Wei will be handling EAL support for Primary 3 and 4. She holds a bachelor’s degree in the German Language and has studied language and language application at Northwestern University. Since graduation, she has been engaged in language education for more than 9 years. She has been teaching the IB curriculum for 10 years. She hopes that all students can receive the best international education. She is a responsible and caring and an enthusiastic and strict teacher who is good at arousing students’ interest in thinking and being an active learner.
Terren Maves will continue to work with Primary 5 and 6 this year. He holds a TEFL certification and has fifteen years of experience teaching EAL with seven years spent here at XLIS. He also has taken part in numerous IB professional development training courses and has extensive experience with language proficiency assessment.
Kelly Xing will be offering Korean support to both lower and upper primary at XLIS. She holds a Master ‘s degree in Korean Education from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, TOPIK-6, and a TESOL certification, as well as a Korean and English teacher’s qualification certificate. Her past experiences include promoting cooperation and exchange between Chinese and Korean universities, leading Korean primary and secondary school students for language study in China, teaching Korean, and working in Korean enterprises.
The EAL department is excited to begin another year in support of the diverse language needs here at XLIS.
Library
As an important role, the library in XLIS enhanced learning across the school community. Our library provides flexible space for students and a collection of books and recourses, both digital and nonignitable to promote academic learning and support students to be a life-long learner.
Primary students have one library class a week. Classes relate to IB learner profiles and Units of Inquiry. They will also learn how to take care of books, parts of books, how to cite their sources, etc. These classes help students think and reflect critically.
Michelle Yuan has a bachelor’s degree in English and holds a TESOL Advanced Certificate. She is familiar to use various English stories or literacy to support younger learners to learn English as well as Units of Inquiry.
Brenda Zhang holds a bachelor’s degree in English language and certificate of junior high school English teacher. She has experiences of working as an English teacher in a primary school for 3 years.
