Confucius Institute for Scotlands SchoolsOur staff
Muzakira joined the team in 2023 as a Project and Events Coordinator. She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (Hons) in Astronomy & Physics and worked at the Institute of Physics, helping to deliver a variety of public engagement and membership events
Muzakira works mainly on the areas of the CISS hubs, CET support, the Discovering China and VET programmes, and financial and travel-related processes.
Contact:
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Tel: 0141 444 8180
Alice joined the team in 2023 as a Projects and Events Coordinator, having amassed several years of personal and professional experience in language education.
While studying for an MA Honors in French at the University of Edinburgh, she studied Spanish for a year and did a year-abroad in Strasbourg, France working as an English Language Assistant in two high-schools. She subsequently undertook an internship with Scholastic’s Mary Glasgow Magazines in London, working on their English and Modern language learning magazines. After graduating, she worked as a bilingual Account Manager for an audio-visual translation company in Glasgow, before joining the British Council as an Assistant Consultant in the Language Assistants team. Here, she was responsible for the English Language Assistants programme in France, Canada, and Belgium, as well as Modern and Chinese Language Assistants in Scotland, and had responsibilities for numerous language learning events, projects, and university outreach across Scotland.
She later moved to Berlin, Germany where she worked as a Customer Service Consultant for the language learning app, Babbel. After moving back to Scotland, she undertook a Masters in TESOL at the University of Glasgow, with her dissertation exploring ESOL provision for Ukrainian refugees in Scotland, and earned an overall distinction for her degree. Alice is currently learning BSL and likes to use her French and German skills wherever possible.
Alice works on the areas of the Tianjin Scholarship, Alumni, Eco Learning Partners and VET programmes, CISS newsletter, and manages CISS social media and comms.
Contact:
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Tel: 0141 444 8169
Wendy joined the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS) in 2021. Her role is to support the Director of SCILT with the strategic overview, management and quality assurance of CISS projects and take a leading role in the promotion of Chinese language and culture in response to the Scottish Government’s China Strategy and the 1+2 languages policy.
Wendy graduated with an MSc in International Marketing from Strathclyde University in 2001. To date she has amassed over 19 years’ experience working in management positions across the public and private sectors in both China and the UK including UK Trade & Investment (now Department for International Trade) in Guangzhou, Southern China, China-Britain Business Council and the City of Edinburgh Council. Wendy specialises in managing cross-border projects with multiple and diverse stakeholders and bringing these projects to completion to the satisfaction of all involved.
As the China campaign manager of the city of Edinburgh Council, Wendy established the first Sino-UK city level joint incubator project between Edinburgh and Shenzhen, China’s “Silicon Valley” supporting and educating small and medium size businesses in creative and tech sectors from the two cities to establish partnership and grow together.
Prior to joining CISS, Wendy was the General Manager of the Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Tel: 0141 444 8168
Follow Wendy on Twitter @siwei_liu
Lisa joined SCILT as a Professional Development Officer in November 2019 and a year later became Depute Director. As a highly experienced principal teacher of Spanish and French, she has extensive knowledge of the secondary curriculum, including both BGE and Senior Phase.
Lisa graduated from the University of Glasgow in Hispanic Studies and French, and after completing her PGCE at the University of Strathclyde (Jordanhill), she began her teaching career with Inverclyde Council. She is an experienced practitioner at all levels in secondary, and has developed courses and resources to support both primary and secondary colleagues. As part of her commitment to ongoing professional development, Lisa undertakes a range of SQA duties, including marking for National 5 and Advanced Higher Spanish. She is also a Visiting Assessor for Advanced Higher Spanish.
Broadening her experience of different aspects of education has always been important to Lisa. She has been a principal teacher of Citizenship and Enterprise, where skills development and pupil voice were her key focus. She has been 1+2 Development Officer for Inverclyde Council: a role which gave her the opportunity to work closely with primary as well as secondary colleagues. A secondment to Learning and Teaching Scotland (now Education Scotland) allowed Lisa to work on International Education and Global Citizenship, where she worked closely with the International Education Masterclass network, and on a range of global citizenship projects.
Above all, Lisa is a passionate advocate for language learning for everyone. She looks forward to working with schools and other partner organisations to encourage and support language learning across Scotland.
Contact:
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Tel: 0141 444 8179
An experienced Primary School teacher, Susan has been working with CISS as a Professional Development Officer, since 2020. However, as the Co-ordinator of Stirling’s Primary Confucius Classroom, she has been closely involved with CISS since 2015.
Over the last few years, Susan has focussed on the delivery of Professional Learning for teachers of Chinese and the development of the Mandarin Framework, a Progression Pathway for Chinese Exchange Teachers (CETs) and others delivering educational opportunities in Chinese language in Scottish Schools.
As well as creating a four-year Chinese language Progression with pupils at Braehead Primary School in Stirling and running innovative language and culture projects, Susan has been working with Stirling Council and CETs for the last few years, teaching Chinese to around 600 primary pupils every week.
Susan developed her passion for Chinese language and culture whilst living with her family in Beijing from 2006 to 2008 during the build up to the Olympic Games, a time when the city and indeed, the whole country, was undergoing huge cultural change with a tangible sense of excitement across China.
Whilst in Beijing, Susan spent time studying the language and also worked as a volunteer teacher of English at a local school for the children of Migrant Workers, a hugely rewarding experience. Since her return to Scotland, she has continued to study Mandarin and she has resumed her long-dormant study of Gaelic and German.
She gained GTCS Professional Recognition in 2019 through SCILT’s 1 + 2 Language Leadership Programme and she plans to continue to focus on development work to support the network of Confucius Classrooms in Scotland to deliver a high quality of learning and teaching of Chinese language and culture.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Karen is a passionate linguist and experienced secondary Modern Languages teacher.
Following her graduation from Heriot Watt University with an MA (Hons) in Interpreting and Translating (French and Spanish) she gained her PGDE from Aberdeen University and started her career teaching in Angus, and then spent 5 years teaching languages in Midlothian, before returning to Angus again where she has worked for the past 9 years, teaching French and Spanish at all levels from S1-S6.
Over the years Karen has been involved in a number of professional learning opportunities and helped promote and develop languages in the school and at local and national level. She has been an SQA exam marker and then team leader for National 5 Spanish over a number of years and took on the role of PT Modern Languages before becoming Angus Confucius Hub Coordinator.
She was involved in helping set up and launch the Confucius hub in her school back in 2016 and has supported the Confucius hub in many ways including mentoring several student teachers and Chinese Exchange teachers. In 2014 Karen took part in the CISS Scottish Teacher’s Immersion Course in Beijing and further increased her enthusiasm for Chinese language and culture.
She joined the 2017 cohort for the SCILT and Education Scotland Language Leaders Programme and gained GTCS Professional Recognition in 2018 with her research project on challenges of developing a Confucius hub.
As part of her professional learning Karen has been learning Mandarin through Dundee Unversity’s Languages for All Programme and is keen to continue learning more in her role as PDO.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Follow Karen on Twitter @Miss_liddle_mfl
Beverley has recently joined SCILT and CISS as the Business and Finance Manager and brings a wealth of knowledge to the role. Beverley has a strong finance and admin background with experience in an array of different sectors. Before taking up her new post, Beverley was based within the University as office manager for the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice.
As an advocate for life-long learning, Beverley returned to university in 2017 to complete a Master’s degree in Applied Social Sciences with Criminal Justice. As a campaigner for children’s rights, Beverley is currently an active Children’s Hearing Scotland panel member.
As part of the senior leadership team, Beverley is responsible for the overall administrative and financial operation of SCILT and CISS.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
After graduating from the University of Glasgow with an MA in French and English, Fhiona lived and worked in Paris before returning to Scotland to undertake a PGDE at the University of Strathclyde in which she received a distinction.
Fhiona worked for several years in secondary schools, becoming principal teacher of Modern Languages in a large and vibrant department, offering French, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin.
In her capacity as director of SCILT and CISS, Fhiona advises and informs Scottish Government language policy and supports its implementation in schools. She also provides strategic leadership to all the Confucius classroom hubs in Scotland, working in close partnership with Hanban, Tianjin Education Commission and Scottish Government.
She is an active contributor to Scottish Government’s Strategic Implementation Group that leads the realisation of the recommendations of Language Learning in Scotland: a 1+2 approach. Similarly, Fhiona is an active advisory board member of the Scotland China Education Network (SCEN) and is a trustee of the Scottish European Educational Trust (SEET). Working with a wide range of national and international partners, Fhiona is a well-known advocate of languages and is determined to create a climate in which language learning flourishes.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Tel: 0141 444 8163
After leaving St Ninian’s High school in May 2015, Anna decided to take forward her chosen career in Administration which she discovered throughout her time in school. Anna’s favourite subject was Administration and she picked this subject in her second year as one of many to study.
Whilst being in school, Anna had a part-time job as a shop assistant before joining SCILT in June 2015 as a Modern Apprentice. She successfully completed her apprenticeship in 2017, gaining a SVQ Level 3 qualification in Administration and Business. This provided Anna with all the relevant skills and knowledge to take on the role of Administrative Assistant at SCILT.
Anna’s main role is first point of contact for the Centre’s Director, managing staff diaries, maintaining stock control, booking travel arrangements and providing administrative support to the team in the lead up to SCILT conferences and events.
Anna is delighted to continue working at SCILT and is looking forward to progressing further in her career and learning more about how SCILT works at promoting languages within schools and other organisations.
Contact:
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
Tel: 0141 444 8175
Minrong joined CISS as a Professional Development Assistant in August 2021. She is a GTCS fully qualified Mandarin teacher who is ardent about developing the talents and potential of young people.
Following graduation in Macau University of Science and Technology with a BA(Hons) in Foreign Language Studies (Major: English; Minor: International Tourism Management; Second Language: Portuguese), Minrong worked as a Chinese Exchange Teacher at CISS from 2017 to 2019. It was her first full time teaching job and it cemented her desire to pursue a career in teaching. She successfully gained a PGDE qualification from the University of Strathclyde and was one of the 2019/2020 Saltire scholars.
Prior to rejoining CISS, Minrong was an NQT at Robert Gordon’s College, where she acquired a real range of valuable practical teaching experience, including nursery, BGE and senior phase pupils with both on and off site teaching.
As a teacher of youngsters, Minrong recognises that her role is not only to teach the subjects but also to enhance cultural understanding, allowing young people to be “all they can be”.
Her current remit includes teaching a variety of face to face and online Mandarin classes to learners across Scotland, developing suitable teaching materials and supporting the team with professional learning activities.
Minrong is excited to be part of the SCILT/CISS team again and she is enthusiastic about working with colleagues to ensure a high quality of teaching and learning for Scottish young people in a nurturing and inclusive environment.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
minrong.zhang@strath.ac.uk
Follow Minrong on Twitter @ZhanglaoshiML
Zhao Yanyan was an English teacher and the Director of the International Department in Tianjin High School before she came to Scotland to be the Chinese Director of Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools. She is also a trilingual educator in English, Chinese and Japanese.
With her degree in both Second Language Acquisition and Psychology, she has devoted herself to Psychological Education in high school. She was awarded the certificate of psychological consultant in China in 2011. Yanyan has also been working closely with the Tianjin Family Education Instructive Centre for years.
Yanyan is delighted to join the CISS team. Her principal roles include responsibility for Hanban teachers' management and the expansion of teachers' evaluation. Meanwhile, she has established a bridge between CISS and the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission and both Confucius Institute Headquarters
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX
yanyan.zhao@strath.ac.uk
Xiaoyan joined CISS in January 2020. She is a passionate educator as well as an enthusiastic Mandarin teacher.
Before she moved to Scotland with her family in 2007, she was a university lecturer of Children Language Learning and Teaching and Child Psychology in her home city after she received her Master degree in Education Management from the Northeast Normal University. Before her lectureship, she worked on different management posts and organised many activities and university events. During that period, she accumulated invaluable experiences and knowledge as well as a growing interest in education. Particularly, she enjoyed the feeling of fulfilment in changing young people’s lives through her hard work and endeavours in teaching.
After moving to Glasgow, she started teaching different types of Chinese Mandarin short courses and programmes of different levels at the University of the West of Scotland, the University of Glasgow and the company Lenovo. She has also taught at the Glasgow Chinese School for years. At the same time, she had many close relationships with both primary and secondary schools allowing her to share Chinese culture, teach Chinese folk songs, dances and calligraphy, and to help with school talent shows etc. These experiences ignited her greatest passion of teaching Mandarin Chinese in Scotland.
With a fervent love and passion of teaching Chinese language and promoting Chinese culture, after receiving a PGDE qualification at the University of Strathclyde, Xiaoyan worked at Dollar Academy and gained invaluable teaching skills and experiences. In terms of commitment to ongoing professional development, Xiaoyan currently undertakes a range of SQA duties, including Event Verifier for National 5 and Higher Mandarin Chinese.
She believes that “knowledge is power and power can make changes” and she is very enthusiastic to make more contributions to Scotland’s Chinese language learners.
Contact
The Ramshorn
98 Ingram Street
Merchant City
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, G1 1EX