Welcome letter from XLIS Head of School

Dear members of the Xi’an Liangjiatan International School Community,

I hope that each one of you had a wonderful and fulfilling summer vacation. I would like to share with you lots of great news that XLIS  received during the past summer break. The biggest one was the excellent results achieved by our school’s 3rd cohort of IB DP graduates. Their average score exceeded the average global IB Diploma Program score, with the highest grade reaching 43 points. Each student made great progress and outperformed themselves. Our graduates have received admission offers from top universities around the world. Cheers for them! We also received wonderful news from the Secondary Drama Representative Team who participated together in the classic Chinese drama-“Tea House” and won the first prize of the “Outlook – China National Annual Final Evaluation of Youth Educational Drama”.  We are so proud of them. Furthermore, great moments were also shared by eight confident and eloquent MYP student representatives while participating in the 2021 Xi’an High-Tech No. 1 Middle School’s Model United Nations Conference. They impressed us with their good communication skills, remarkable cooperation strategies and critical thinking ability. Also, I must clap for our rocking SDGs summer camp organized by the XLIS Brand Development Team. The day camp was designed for preschool children to P3 students while the residential camp for junior and senior high school students, with the theme of “Ten Days Around the World”. Unanimous praise from students inside and outside the school kept coming to us! In addition, our Secondary student representatives joined hands with several outstanding local designers, they presented and completed the brilliant design of the second floor of our library. I am so proud of our students and teachers who made all these initiatives happen in XLIS. The summer vacation is a happy time for families, and you might also gain your individual achievement through exploring the mysteries of nature, athletic exercising, extra reading, pursuing artistic performance, and more. I hope that this has been a meaningful break for you all!

 

The academic year of 2021-2022 is just around the corner. This year, we will open two new classes in Primary and most excitingly, we will see our 4th cohort of DP graduates as well. The total students’ number will reach 551, with also formal faculty and staff in the school reaching 119 people, including 62 foreign teaching experts. What’s more, we have hired more than 20 different external experts to assist with the operation of our ECA program. As for the whole school management service, French company “Aden”, will assign 77 people in campus to safeguard the security, cleaning, restaurant, equipment operation and maintenance work.  A total of 58 bus drivers and assistants will serve the entire student body and faculty to make sure all the transportation runs smoothly and is soundly organized. Moreover, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and warm welcome to every faculty member and staff hailing from 34 countries and regions in the world especially new members. I welcome you to join the XLIS family.

 

The latest data released by the WHO on August 13th showed that the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases worldwide has reached 205,338,159. So, there is still a severe conquering march between humans and the virus. I hereby would like to thank every faculty and parent for the numerous contributions among the prolonged anti-epidemic work. Thank you for your continued support and understanding for XLIS. Xi’an, named “Chang’an” in ancient times, means “long-term peace and stability”. The happiness and safety of Chang’an city requires real actions from everyone in our community. Let us strictly abide by the requirements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Shaanxi Province, and Xi’an city for epidemic prevention and control. We will fully implement the campus epidemic prevention and control measures, and resolutely prevent any viral rebound under the leadership of the Xi’an High-tech Zone. Let us work together to safeguard the healthy growth of every child.

 

Finally, as the new school year comes to us, I thank you for your continuing trust and support to XLIS. Let’s adhere to the mission of Xi’an Liangjiatan International School, which is to “to provide a non-profit education focused on enabling confident, open-minded global citizens through life-long learning and a sense of community”. This will empower us to work hard toward realizing our vision: “to lead education through innovation and a student-centered, community-driven approach”.

 

Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself. Let us work together to change life through education as well as to create a safer, more beautiful, diverse and inclusive Xi’an International Community.

Sincerely,

 

Head of School: Lily Liu

Doctor of Global Education

Member of the All-China Youth Federation

Member of the CPPCC in Shaanxi Province

Email: lily.liu@xalis.com

 

XLIS Faculties for 2021-2022 School Year

New School Year, New Journey

 

■  Number of Staff: 119

■  Number of teachers: 86

■  Number of Nationalities: 22

■  Number of Ph.D. and Doctor candidates: 7

■  56% of teachers Master’s degree or above

■  The average teaching experience of teachers is 9 years

■  The average age of teachers is 37

 

Karla Castle (Librarian)

Karla Castle comes from the USA. She is a qualified and highly experienced librarian. She has been working in the field of Librarianship for 27 years. She holds a master’s degree in Librarianship from the University of Washington, and a bachelor’s degree of Liberal Arts from the Columbia Christian College.

 

Nicole Warmerdam (MYP Individual & Society Teacher)

Nicole Suzanne Warmerdam is from Australia. She holds her Master’s degree of Humanities from University of New England and Bachelor’s degree of Business from Southern Cross University. She has been working in IB school for 9 years and has taught in Australia, Vietnam and Colombia.

 

Dalham Lawrence  (P5A Homeroom Teacher)

Dalham Lawrence is from Australia. He holds a Master’s degree of Arts in International Education from the Education University of Hong Kong and a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Development from The University of Portsmouth. He has been teaching international school for 8 years.

 

Sam Wanamaker (MYP/DP Music Teacher)

Sam Wanamaker is from USA. He holds a Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Music Education from Appalachian State University. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the National Association for Music Educators (NAfME) and the North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA).

 

Keonseung Yang (MYP/DP Korean Literature Teacher)

Keonseung Yang is from Korea. He has a Master’s degree in Korean Language and Literature from Kyunghee University and a Bachelor’s degree in Korean Language and Literature from Sogang University. He is a certificated teacher with 13 years of experience in an intentional setting and has taught at Suzhou and Guangzhou international schools.

 

Michelle Taylor  (Whole School Counselor)

Michelle Taylor is from USA. She is a licensed professionally counselor (LPC) in the state of Oklahoma, USA and a state approved LPC Supervisor. She has 20 years of counseling experience. She holds a Master’s degree of Arts in Professional Counseling from the Oral Roberts University and a Bachelor’s degree of Biology from the Oral Roberts University.

 

Romann Loubser (P4B Homeroom Teacher)

Romann Loubser is from South Africa. He holds a Bachelor’s degree of Education from University of the Free State (UFS). He has been working in education field since 2017.

 

Ilyoung Jeon (P6C TA)

Ilyoung Jeon is from Korea. She holds a Master’s degree in English Language Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ewha Womans University, Seoul. She speaks fluent Korean and English and has 10 years teaching experience in Korea.

 

Eva Liu (DP Business Management Teacher，MYP Math and Individuals and Societies Teacher)

Eva Liu is from Canada. She has a Master’s degree of Educational Leadership and Management from University of Nottingham and Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from University of Toronto. She is specialized in teaching Economics to secondary school students.

 

Kyle Jooste (MYP English Language Acquisition and DP English B Teacher)

Kyle Jooste is from South Africa. He holds his Bachelor’s degree of Commerce in Economics from University of South Africa. He has been working in Xi’an in the education field since 2015. He is skilled in editing and developing the new course materials and explore new teaching methods by constantly learning multiple languages.

 

Kathleen Challenor (P6B Homeroom Teacher)

Kathleen Challenor is from South Africa. She is a certified teacher and holds her Bachelor’s degree of Education from the University of South Africa. She has 9 years teaching experiences in South Africa and 4 years’ international experiences in China.

 

Jonathan Lee Ching (Primary Performing Arts Teacher)

Jonathan Lee Ching is from South Africa. He is a certificated teacher with Bachelor’s degree of Music from Nelson Mandela University. He is an enthusiastic music and English teacher with over 2 years’ experience teaching in international school. His approach to music education helps his students aim for excellence, build their confidence and stretch their abilities to their limit.

 

Tanapat Treyanurak (DP Analysis & Approaches HL and MYP Mathematics Teacher)

Tanapat Treyanurak is from Thailand. He holds his Bachelor’s degree of Arts in Neuroscience & Literature from Hamilton College, USA. He has 9 years of learning experience in IB schools and 4 years of teaching experience, which makes him an in-depth understanding of the IB curriculum. He has taught mathematics, science, biology and chemistry.

 

Elham Mardani (P3C TA)

Elham Mardani comes from Iran. She is an experienced English teacher with 9 years teaching experiences. She holds her Master’s degree in IMBA from New-Huadu Business School and Bachelor’s degree from Payam Noor University (PNU).

 

Angela Steeles (P1A Homeroom Teacher)

Angela Steeles comes from South Africa. She holds her Bachelor’s degree of Education from University of South Africa. She has 11 years of teaching experience and has taught at preschool and primary school as homeroom teacher.

 

Jackielou Cellan (P2A Homeroom Teacher)

Jackielou Cellan is from Philippines. She holds her Bachelor’s degree of Science in Development Communication from Bukidnon State University. She holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from University of Essex. She has 8 years primary teaching experience and worked in many cities in China.

 

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