We are very excited to announce the Finalists for this year’s Heartland Chinese Teacher Award! We wish to congratulate not only the Finalists, but all of the teachers who applied, our nominators, and school district leadership working to promote excellence in Chinese language teaching and cultural appreciation in our communities.
Join us for the event Heartland Chinese Teacher Award – A Community Celebration to discover which of our amazing Finalists will be announced as Award Recipients.
Award Finalists Spotlight
Lin ChenHaas Hall AcademyFayetteville, Arkansas
Lin Chen is a teacher at Haas Hall Academy, a nationally high-ranked charter school with five campuses serving students 7th-12th in Northwest Arkansas. Chen founded the Mandarin program in her district in 2015 and has been teaching the subject to students of 9th-12th grades, levels 1 through 3, and AP. After giving in-person instruction at the Bentonville campus for five years, she transferred to the Fort Smith campus and has been providing virtual and hybrid instruction in Mandarin to students across five campuses at the present time.
Hai Zheng OlefskySt. Stephen's Episcopal SchoolAustin, Texas
Hai Zheng Olefsky has been teaching Chinese language and culture for over 25 years. Since 1999, she has served as Chair of Chinese Studies and Associate Director of the International Program at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, TX. A CLASS board member, she has been awarded the endowed Master Teaching Chair for Critical Languages at SSES three times. She is also the founding advisor of the National Chinese Honor Society’s St. Stephen’s chapter.
Haiyun LuFountain Valley SchoolMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Haiyun Lu has been an educator since 1993. She is a certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher from Brown University and holds a certification in Advanced Education Leadership from Harvard University. She is passionate about employing Acquisition-Driven Instruction (ADI) in her classes, integrating mindfulness into education, and bridging gaps between international students and mainstream society.
Ji XiangIntercultural Montessori Language SchoolChicago, Illinois
Ji Xiang has dedicated 14 years to promoting Chinese language and culture while fostering cross-cultural exchanges. Holding a master’s degree in Education from Southwestern College, she has expanded the Chinese program from its humble beginnings to a thriving department with high student achievement, boasting a 95% Chinese exam pass rate. Under her leadership, the school established a sister school partnership with Hangzhou Chongwen Century City Experimental School, leading to transformative student exchanges. She has organized numerous cultural events, including annual Spring Festival celebrations and performances like the Tai Chi Chinese Fan Dance.
Yugi ZhaoForest Hills Public SchoolsGrand Rapids, Michigan
Yuqi Zhao has been a Chinese immersion teacher at Northern Trails 5/6 School since 2013, inspiring young learners in a 5th-grade classroom in West Michigan. She earned a Master of Arts in Teaching and Curriculum from Michigan State University and holds a Michigan Professional Teaching Certificate for K-12 Foreign Language (Chinese) and Elementary K-5 All Subjects. Passionate about language immersion, she developed the 5th-grade Chinese immersion curriculum and employs total immersion strategies to enhance students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. To further enrich Chinese language learning and cultural appreciation, she has led the school’s annual Chinese New Year celebration and facilitated biannual cultural exchange trips to China for students and their families.
2024-2025 Heartland Chinese Teacher Award
China is the world’s oldest surviving civilization, and the Chinese language is often credited for its longevity. Today, close to 1.3 billion people, approximately 16% of the world’s population, speak Chinese. In the United States, that number is less than 1%.
Studying Chinese is important not only for gaining a greater understanding and deeper appreciation of Chinese culture but also for building bridges of friendship between the U.S. and China.
It is with much appreciation of the many teachers who have been teaching the Chinese Language in the Heartland region, often with little resources, that USHCA is happy to announce its third annual Heartland Chinese Teacher Award, to recognize the hard work of the many Chinese language teachers in the heartland region who have built cultural bridges through language learning.
The 2024-2025 Heartland Chinese Teacher Award will once again seek to recognize exceptional K-12 Chinese language teachers in the 21-state heartland region based on:
- Creativity of their curriculum
- Impact on students
- Contribution to Chinese language learning and cultural dissemination in their community.