About

My teaching is grounded in rigorous doctoral training in Chinese language pedagogy at Ohio State, a nationally recognized leader in East Asian language education, where I specialized in curriculum design, materials development, and program leadership. For over a decade, I taught Mandarin at universities across the country, including Loyola University Maryland, UMBC, and Grinnell College.

But each week meant long commutes, large classes, and mandatory textbooks that clashed with what I knew about how students actually learn and often left students behind. And looming on the horizon was a tenure-track path that would require yet another relocation, one that could separate me from my family.

That’s when I decided to rewrite the story. I chose to put down roots in the Iowa City area, a community that shares my values of connection, balance, and lifelong learning. Today, my founded Midwest Chinese Academy brings academic advancement, career opportunity, personal enrichment, and cross-cultural connection to everyone of you in the community.

Jayden Amsler, MD is a Family Medicine Resident Physician at the University of Iowa Hospital. She studied Mandarin Chinese in high school for 4 years and went on to major in Asian Language and Literature at the University of Iowa. She received the Confucius Institute Scholarship, Iowa Abroad Scholarship, Stanley International Program Scholarship, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies Scholarship, and the Helen K. Fairall Scholarship for Students in Asian and Slavic Languages and Literature. After studying Mandarin Chinese for 8 years, she went on to take Chinese language and culture courses at Tianjin University of Technology in Tianjin, China. Her favorite culture courses included courses on calligraphy, erhu, and Chinese watercolor. She loves connecting with patients and others in the community that speak Mandarin Chinese and hopes to help foster inclusive spaces to encourage more community members to learn about Chinese language and literature.

Na Li began her career as an Associate Professor at Sichuan Normal University (1998–2012), where she taught with clarity and passion—sharing not only language skills but also thoughtful life perspectives. After moving to the U.S., she earned her M.A. in East Asian Languages and Literatures from the University of Iowa, specializing in Chinese pedagogy.

She taught immersive Chinese at Lakes International Language Academy in Minnesota (2010–2012), then continued teaching Mandarin at the University of Iowa for over five years. She also led high school-level instruction through the federally funded StarTalk Program, blending task-based teaching with cultural learning to help students connect language to real-life use.

Beyond the classroom, Na has been an active community leader. She served as President of the Iowa City Area Chinese Association (2021–2022) and has led APAPA’s Eastern Iowa Chapter since 2022. She is dedicated to promoting Asian culture, fostering cross-cultural understanding, and creating inclusive spaces. Since 2023, she has hosted the annual Lunar New Year Gala at the Englert Theater—a joyful celebration of Chinese heritage and performing arts.

Hunter Klie is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He holds a PhD in Chinese Language Pedagogy from The Ohio State University. Dr. Klie has extensive experience teaching Mandarin Chinese to university students at all levels, having taught at Denison University, The Ohio State University, and Missouri State University. He has also served as an Assistant Teacher Trainer at the ALLEX Foundation's teacher training institute at Cornell University, where he trained East Asian language teachers in performed culture pedagogy. His research focuses on connecting the pedagogy of performance to the pedagogy of foreign languages, training teachers to help their students speak Chinese, not only with accurate language and clear pronunciation, but also with culturally appropriate body language and gestures, Hunter is excited to share his years of experience learning and teaching foreign languages with Midwestern language learners in the U.S.

Helen H. Shen, Professor, Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures, The University of Iowa, USA. She served as Academic Coordinator of the Chinese Program, Director of Graduate Studies for the Department; college board SAT Subjest Tests Committee in the U.S.; Roundtable Grant Committee of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations in the U.S., grant Evaluator for the International and Foreign Language Education grants of the US Department of Education, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. From 2012-18, she served on the Board of Directors for the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA. And served as President for the association in 2016. 

Professor Shen‘s major research areas are Chinese L2 literacy development and reading education. She has published dozens of journal articles and is the author of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Instruction (Second Edition), and lead author for the books of Introduction to Standard Chinese Pinyin System, Learning 100 Chinese Radicals, and Routledge Intermediate Chinese Reader. She is editor for the book, Teaching Chinese as a Second Language: Character and Word Teaching Methods and co-editor of the book, Research Among Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language. 

She is the recipient of an International Research grant from the US Department of Education (2005-08) to develop the comprehensive web-based project--The Chinese Reading World. She is the recipient of three summer STARTALK grants (2010, 2016, 2017) and one year-round STARTALK grants (2022) from the US Government. In 2015 she was invited by the Mandarin Institute--Loyola Marymount University STARTALK Infrastructure Program to direct the construction of the first online K–5 word frequency database for Chinese L2 learners. 

Professor Shen retired from the University of Iowa in 2023 and remains as Professor Emeritus. Currently she serves on the editorial board for the four academic journals and US government's Critical Language Grant evaluator, and Vice President for Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association-Eastern Iowa Chapter.

Huiqiang Zheng is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Iowa. She has taught Chinese as a second language at universities in both China and the United States for over ten years. In 2019, she was named “Teacher of the Year” by the Kentucky World Language Association. In addition to teaching, Dr. Zheng has published research in second language acquisition, language pedagogy, and computational linguistics. She is also active in the local Chinese community, sharing her expertise in Chinese pedagogy and folk dance. At UI, she recently launched the course “Chinese Minority and Folk Dances.”

Master Dan (Sharon) Song has been immersed in martial arts since childhood, specializing in Chen-style Tai Chi and Wing Chun. She trained under two esteemed Chen-style Tai Chi masters and two renowned Wing Chun masters, and is a formal disciple of Shengyi Zhang, a 12th-generation inheritor of Chen-style Tai Chi.

Before relocating to Iowa City, Master Song taught Tai Chi at K–12 schools in Los Angeles, guiding students across beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Since 2013, she has also taught Tai Chi at senior community centers. Over the years, Master Song has earned numerous gold medals in national and international Tai Chi competitions and was honored as an Outstanding Tai Chi Coach by the International Martial Arts Association.

In her spare time, she reflects on how Tai Chi has profoundly shaped her character, instilling discipline, perseverance, and balance in her daily life.

Hello, I am Jacky Xiao. I was one of Chai Laoshi's students for five years and have learned much from her courses. In high school I was a part of a robotics team where I specialized in programming and now I am a student at the University of Maryland, pursuing a degree in computer engineering. I enjoy writing software to solve problems within my daily life and learning more about low level computing. Currently I work within the university's College of Education, where I write software to help streamline various processes within the workflow of the college. In my free time I enjoy video games, cooking, and drawing. I have been doing digital art for about six years now and am glad to have the opportunity to help Chai Laoshi.