Our Teachers

Wendy Lee, Ed.D., Academic Director
Dr. Wendy Lee has over 15 years of experience working with children of diverse cultural backgrounds in a wide range of settings.  Most recently, she has been an elementary school teacher in Irvine Unified School District, with a specialization in teaching English as a Second Language to newcomers to the country.  Previously, she was Assistant Director of the Center for Learning through the Arts at UC Irvine.  Dr. Lee holds a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership at UCLA with a focus on teacher training and teachers’ use of technology.  She is also the mother of three young children, and understands the importance of building foundations in learning at an early age.

Frances Tan, Director of Chinese Curriculum
Frances Tan has been teaching Mandarin Chinese to elementary school students for over 10 years, most recently as part of the federal Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) in Walnut Valley Unified School District.  Mrs. Tan is a native Chinese speaker who earned her M.A. in the U.S., where she has resided for over 40 years.  Her strong bilingual skills and participation in training conferences for teaching Chinese with documented strategies have enabled her to work successfully with young people to learn about her home language and culture.

Stephanie Cao
Stephanie Cao has 10 years of experience in a variety of fields in diverse cultural settings and international affairs, from International Economics to Education. She obtained her MBA at James Cook University in Australia and BA at Nanjing University, China. Before pursuing graduate education, she earned the Certificate of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at Beijing Language University. Prior to joining Karis Academy, she worked as an education program consultant in China. After coming to the States, she taught language in an elementary school in Orange County. She is excited to apply her interpersonal and intercultural skills and passion for education in Karis.

Shu Pan
Shu Pan previously served as an Educational Department Director of the Family Education Committee of Nanjing, with a Bachelor’s Degree from Jinling Institute of Technology in Nanjing, China.  Her management experience is coupled with an extensive 10-year research background in children and family education, during which she published multiple articles on children’s education.  In her current position as a Chinese teacher and Curriculum Coordinator, Ms. Pan integrates her native Chinese language skills, comprehensive field expertise, and passion for helping children learn through interpersonal communication skills.

Johanne Galloway Liang
Johanne Galloway Liang obtained her B.A. from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and an A.A. from FIDM in Los Angeles.  In addition to being a native Chinese speaker, she has a Chinese learning certificate from National Taiwan University and served as a bilingual preschool and kindergarten teacher in Taiwan for five years.  Mrs. Liang hopes to help each of her students develop a solid foundation in Chinese language.

Linda Kuo
Linda Kuo earned a bachelor degree from Tokyo Bunga University In Japan. She obtained an official teaching license and has been teaching students for more than 20 years. She is passionate and dedicated to helping students who are interested in learning Japanese or Mandarin Chinese. She has taught students ranging in ages from 3 to 20.

Alice Liao
Alice Liao was born and raised in Taiwan, where she lived until high school. She attended California State University, Fullerton to earn her B. A. degree.  She has a solid background and spoken fluency in Modern Standard Chinese (putonghua) and has taught her own two children Chinese since the age of 3.  Mrs. Liao is now in her 6th year at Karis Academy and has thoroughly enjoyed working alongside the dedicated and happy staff and of course the wonderful children and parents here. No two days in school are ever the same, and watching the children grow and flourish and become passionate about their learning is a joy to be involved in. When she is not at school, she enjoys travelling, gardening and spending time with her family.

Sunny Ding
Ms. Ding graduated from National Chung-Hsing University in Taiwan with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese Literature. She taught Chinese at a vocational high school and an afterschool program when she was in Taiwan. She also earned her Montessori Early Childhood teacher credential in Los Angeles. After working at Montessori preschools for 2 years, she found that her true passion is teaching Chinese. She became a Chinese teacher for a preschool and an afterschool program and has since taught Chinese at Karis Academy for over 7 years.

Yangzhongyi (Emily) Zhang
Yangzhongyi earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in applied linguistics and TESOL. Previously, she graduated from the University of California, Irvine, and majored in Science of Education. She has over five years of experience teaching Mandarin to adult and K-12 learners. She has rich experience in language teaching strategies which she utilizes in her classroom to engage students in language learning.

Soon Im Park
Soon Im Park attended Incheon Teacher’s College in Korea and was an elementary school teacher who taught for over 30 years.  She also helped found a Korean International School in China.  In the U.S., she has been teaching Korean-American children for over 4 years, constantly coming up with new ways to make learning fun and interesting for kids.  Mrs. Park’s students love her warm and caring personality.  Her experience teaching Korean ranges from beginning levels through advanced, including SAT II test prep.

Youngju Yang
Youngju Yang grew up and was educated in the greater Seoul area of South Korea. She graduated from Inha University where she majored in English Language Education and obtained a teaching credential for middle and high school. She has eight years of experience in Korea teaching English, and acting as a subject matter expert to develop English language curriculum for preschool aged learners. In the U.S., Mrs. Yang taught Korean at a Southern California Korean institute for three years and has been teaching Korean online for almost two years. For the past three years she has also been busy taking additional coursework in English, Art and Child Development and teaching Korean to students ranging from elementary to high school. She is excited and passionate about making learning Korean fun and enjoyable for all learners.

Yunmi Huh
Yunmi grew up in Korea and attended Seoul National University where she studied History Education.  After several years working in the financial industry, she studied English Education at Korea University and taught students English for four years.  Then she pursued studies in Korean Education at a government institute and obtained a Korean Language Teacher certification.  In her Korean teaching career, Yunmi has taught elementary students at Korean Institute of Southern California for 3 years.  She loves teaching and has a true passion for working with young students.

Debbie De Santis
Debbie De Santis has a B.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Social Ecology from UC Irvine. She has a Master’s Degree in English with a specialty in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Chapman University.  Debbie has taught elementary school in Irvine Unified for over 35 years to students of diverse language and cultural backgrounds.  She  has extensive experience teaching limited and non-English speaking children speaking skills, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension skills, and all aspects of written language. In addition, her MA studies make her especially well qualified to teach English to adults. Debbie has experience teaching English to adults at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. Finally, Debbie is a singer who has sung with Orange Coast College Big Bands and at weddings and private parties. She likes to incorporate song and movement into her teaching to facilitate learning and make learning English fun!