Staff Profiles

(Melody) Chen, Jun Lin

Nursery Assistant

Ms. Chen graduated from Nanjing Normal University in 2002, where she majored in Early Childhood Education. She has been teaching 6 years in a Shanghai bilingual kindergarten. She enjoys the company of children and loves to play and learn with them. Melody was excited to join WISS in 2008 and believes she will bring with her wonderful experience as a Nursery teacher assistant. She loves traveling, taking photos and listening to music.

Colleen Kelly

Pre-K Teacher

Ms. Kelly hails from Nova Scotia, Canada. She holds a BA in Linguistics and a Diploma in Early Childhood Education. She has ten years experience in early childhood education. Her travels have taken her to many different parts of the world including England, Asia, and Central and South America. Before coming to WISS, she spent five years teaching in a bi-lingual kindergarten in Shanghai. She is an experienced PYP educator who has undertaken extensive training in the past 3 years. Colleen is thrilled to continue the PYP path at WISS and is an active member of the school community.

(Juliet) Zhu, Ye

Pre-K / Chinese Teacher

After earning her degree and certification for Pre-Kindergarten Education at East China Normal University, Ms. Zhu taught for 10 years in Shanghai Public Schools. After three years teaching at other Shanghai international schools, Juliet joined our staff at WISS. Her hobbies include Chinese dancing, ballet, and singing, as well as Chinese painting. She published an article in Shanghai Kindergarten Education Magazine. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful veteran on our staff.

Ms Ye graduated from Fudan University with a BA in English. She has worked as a Chinese teacher for over six years and gained a lot of experience in elementary education. Ms Ye has a passion of working with children. Her interests include arts and crafts.

Catherine Nie

Grade 1 Teacher

Ms. Nie was born in Shanghai and moved to Australia at the age of six. She attended Macquarie University and obtained her education degree with a major in primary education and two minors in ESL (English as a second language) and LOTE (languages other than English- Chinese). She did her practicum teaching at Yogoona Public School, Botany Public School, Stanmore Public School and Regents Park Public School in Sydney. During her practicum she taught from grades one to six. She returned to Shanghai to work for the last two years at another international school teaching mainly grades 3 and 4. Besides teaching she also enjoys traveling, learning new languages, and cooking.

(Iris) Feng, Kun 

Ms. Feng earned her BA degree and teaching qualification for high school from Hubei Normal University. She has been teaching in an IB school for the last two years. During this time, she also worked as a volunteer in an autism school. She is very proud of her job as a teacher. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and playing the Chinese Board game - Weiqi.

Renee Peitsch

Ms. Peitch earned her Bachelor of Education at Griffith University, Queensland. Since graduating in 2005, Renee has had a wide and varied teaching experience across 3 states in Australia. While still at University in Queensland, Renee worked extensively in a voluntary capacity at her local PYP school, Trinity Lutheran College. Much of this work involved developing community relationships and programs outside of school for both primary and high school students. Renee has carried this passion for community and young people into her professional teaching. In her first year of teaching Renee trained as a PYP teacher at St Michael’s Lutheran Primary School Hanhdorf, South Australia where she taught Year 6. After marrying and moving to Melbourne, Australia, Renee worked as a Learning Support Teacher with year 5 and 6 students at Eltham College of Education. In the year prior to joining WISS, Renee had been working as the Prep Classroom Teacher at Eltham College, where she continued to foster her passion for creativity in teaching and learning with young inquiring minds. Renee brings with her a passion for teaching and learning, interest and appreciation for world cultures, and her musical and creative talents.

(Vivian) Hu, Hui Hui

Grade 2/ Chinese Teacher

Nigel Pritchard

Grade 2 Teacher

Mr. Pritchard received his Bachelor of Education (Honours) at Westhill College, Birmingham University. After three years of primary school teaching in the UK, Nigel headed overseas. During the six years previous to his tenure at WISS, he worked at two other international schools in China. Receiving ongoing PYP training, Nigel is excited by this opportunity to teach in the program for which he feels a great affinity as a teacher. 
 

(Ivy) Wang, Xiao Yun 

Ms. Wang earned her B.A. from East China Normal University where she majored in International Chinese and has taught Chinese for more than 7 years to foreign students. After graduating, she taught as a high school English teacher in a local foreign language school for one year and then she became a Chinese teacher. She loves children and her work as an educator.

Alicia Lynch

Ms. Lynch comes to WISS from Brisbane, Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Education (Primary) from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with a major in Information Technology. She is recognised as a Leading Teacher by Lutheran Education Queensland. Alicia began her career teaching in Grade 6 at St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace, an all-boys school, before moving to a co-educational setting at St Peters Lutheran College. For the past five years, she has taught a variety of grades, focusing predominately on Grade 3. Alicia is known as a dynamic and enthusiastic teacher. She enjoys challenging herself and is currently studying a Masters in Learning Innovation. Alicia has a zest for life, enjoying a range of hobbies including trekking, scuba diving, rock climbing, dancing and soccer. She recently married and is excited about being part of the international community at WISS.

(Lavissa) Tao, Yan

Erin Mc Govern

Grade 3 Teacher

Ms. McGovern comes to Shanghai from Chicago ! She began her journey as an educator at the University Of Vermont where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 2004. While at UVM, she started teaching through inquiry in order to inspire her students to become life long learners. After moving back to Chicago and teaching kindergarten at Green Bay School for one year, Ms. McGovern decided to continue her journey in the international teaching community. She joined the IBO in 2005 as a teacher at Kyoto International School in Japan , where she taught kindergarten and first grade for four years. Ms. McGovern loves the Primary Years Program as well as traveling Asia , and is thrilled about joining the WISS community. She brings enthusiasm, creativity, and risk-taking to the discovery process, and is excited to share her passion for inquiry with all the third graders.

(Helen) Long, Qing Li 

Ms. Long graduated from Beijing Normal University majoring in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics on a scholarship. She has been working as a Chinese foreign language teacher in universities and training centers for many years. She also worked in Singapore, where she taught secondary students Mandarin.

Amy Miers

Ms. Miers began her tertiary education with a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne, majoring in Psychology. She then completed a Master of Education as a Postgraduate student at the Australian Catholic University in Ballarat. Amy has four years teaching experience with Grades Four and Six. She also has two years experience as Numeracy Coordinator. Amy has a passion for empowering children to direct and be responsible for their own learning. She introduced a Student Representative Council to her school in Melbourne, allowing students to have a greater voice in decision making and facilitate fundraising for social justice issues. Amy brings with her a love of Inquiry Based Learning and authentic curriculum development that is inclusive of each child’s academic, social and emotional needs.

(Judy) Wang, Jue Dan 

Ms. Wang graduated from Zhejiang University with a Masters degree and Northeast Education Normal University with Bachelor degree, both in Chinese. After graduating from university, she went to South Korea and worked in TLC International Academy for 2 years. She is a highly qualified teacher with a rich and diverse experience. This is the first year for her at WISS.

                               
Jason Wong

Mr. Wong is from Vancouver, Canada and holds three Bachelor Degrees in Psychology, Family Studies, and Education from the University of British Columbia. Before coming to WISS, he worked for an offshore Canadian school in Dalian, China and then at an IB PYP School in Ankara, Turkey. He is returning to China for his fifth year of teaching. In his previous schools, he was a specialist teacher, as well as a Grade 3 and 5 teacher. He is passionate about teaching and encourages his students to live by the motto "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Mr. Wong believes his primary goal as an educator is to instill the lifelong love of learning in his students through a rigorous and entertaining educational experience.

                               
(Vivian) Sun, Wen Yan

Ms. Sun graduated from Xi’an Translators University in 2002, and she has been teaching for 6 years in local colleges, primary schools and international kindergartens. She loves teaching and is always trying to improve her teaching skills. She won the 2nd prize in the Teachers’ Skills Competition of Shanghai in 2004. She believes that learning is fun and she is happy to learn and explore with her students. We welcome her to the WISS team!

(Freya) Yin, Bei Lei

Grade 5 / Chinese Teacher

After earning her degree and certification for Early Childhood Education at East China Normal University, Ms. Yin began to study how to teach Mandarin and earned a BA from the Department of International Chinese. She taught for seven years in the Shanghai Public Schools and after five years teaching at two different International Schools of Shanghai, she studied and earned her certification of Mentality Consultation Assistant.

 

Yang, Fei (Sophia)

 PYP Chinese

Ms Yang holds a BA degree in English Linguistic Literature. She has taught Chinese at another international school for the past five years. She enjoys teaching and working with children from all parts of the world. She is excited to join the young yet dynamic WISS community.

 

Secondary School

(Eva) Li, Rong

 MYP Chinese Language Coordinator

Ms Li holds an MA and a BA in Chinese Language and Literature. After teaching at a local secondary school in Sichuan province, Ms Li decided to pursue further study and gained admission to the highly competitive MA Programme at East China Normal University (ECNU). During her advanced study, she received scholarships and was awarded “Outstanding Graduate of Shanghai”. She has also taught students of different age groups in the School of International Education in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Center on International Educational Exchange, ECNU and Shanghai University of Engineering Science. Since she joined WISS as a founding member, Ms Li has been dedicated to developing a leading Chinese language programme at WISS. Her extensive experience and progressive teaching approach across PYP and MYP will lay a solid foundation to implement the DP Chinese programme in 2010-2011 school year.

 

 

Amanda Riske

MYP Maths Teacher

 

Ms. Riske graduated with her BA from Arizona State University in Secondary Mathematics Education and a certificate in Scandinavian Studies. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Oslo, Norway for a year working with the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and PISA + projects at the Univerisity of Oslo (UiO). Ms. Riske stayed in Oslo to complete her Masters of Philosophy in Comparative International Education from UiO doing her field work at a developing school in Northern Ghana . While completing her degree she taught at Oslo International School .  Ms. Riske gained more experience as a teacher and with the IB program teaching in MYP and DP mathematics at Bonn International School in Germany for the past two years. She is passionate about her subject and enjoys linking mathematics to a variety of subjects making the material relevant to the lives of the students' interest and cultural backgrounds. Ms. Riske looks forward to engaging her students in mathematics at WISS. 

 

Al McDowall

Mr. McDowall is delighted to be starting another year at WISS, having thoroughly enjoyed last year as Educational Tech Support . While continuing to teach ICT from Kindergarten through to Grade 5, he was also busy sourcing, updating and maintaining software, both for students and teachers, as well as building the intranet. Adding to his duties this year, he will oversee all technological aspects of life at WISS as well as looking after the technical side of productions in the new theatre.