Nancy West (Head Teacher, Mandarin Program Director)
Born in Zuo Ying, Taiwan, Nancy West graces Greenery Arts’ faculty as a premier instructor of Mandarin Chinese. Since the rise of China on the global world market, an interest for learning Chinese, not only has increased, but certainly, it dramatically benefits all interested students in far reaching, practical ways. Nancy’s teaching skills transform such dreams and aspirations into reality. Both talented and accomplished in her personal life, she offers a high degree of professionalism through her teaching methods, consistently demonstrating commitment to instilling an appreciation for Chinese learning in all her students, and granting them the skill sets necessary to master fluency in the language, while also inspiring interest for the Chinese culture as well.
Nancy’s love for Chinese literature and culture began as a child through the example of her father, who was a middle school Chinese literacy teacher. Her father loved classic Chinese literature, and her most memorable childhood experience was watching him reading ancient Chinese literature, sitting at his favorite study desk. Through his example, she discovered a great love for them herself, filled then with a burning desire to share the same beautiful and rich literacy to others. After entering the United States, she has taught many people Chinese, both adults and young children. She even worked as a teaching assistant while attending BYU, where her students felt her love and passion for her native land, also demonstrating and spreading her cultural experiences and moral values.
Language Learning Experiences:
The fact that Nancy was born in and grew up in naval base villages allowed exposure to and exploration of many Chinese dialects, which fueled a deep fascination for such a wide variety of different spoken languages. At 10 years old she acquired fluency in the Taiwanese dialect by immersing herself with Taiwanese friends and neighbors. At 12, she was introduced to English in school, but the rigid grammatical-based instruction triggered no interest or desire to learn it. In later years, however, she then easily learned Cantonese through the same immersion process that she learned Taiwanese, demonstrating that simply listening to and communicating with the target language was a much more effective approach. She then took a course in Japanese at BYU, but similarly discovered the grammatical-based instruction too difficult to learn well, likewise discouraging her interest in learning it. Her success in learning English also never came from college study, but in daily practical usage and application. Finally, when she was offered to teach a Chinese immersion course to public schools in 2009, she felt total confidence in teaching it.
Nancy’s great love of teaching stems from her affinity for classic Chinese literature, where she became acquainted with the teachings of Confucius. His teachings fascinated her, especially because he taught people from all walks of life, using different approaches to teach the same principles, adapting according to their circumstances. A particularly poignant saying of his became a motto that she zealously followed: “Once a teacher, you become a parent for life.” She considers herself a firm disciple of this teaching, taking her responsibility with a sincere heart, full of conviction. She sees all students beyond their self-prescribed limitations, expanding their horizons, and helping them achieve their full potential. With this goal in mind, she seeks the best strategies for teaching her students.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Family Science: Human Development, from Brigham Young University, Nancy’s light truly shined in her subsequent teaching achievements. She designed, developed and implemented daily lessons, with a full spectrum of the necessary curriculum for success. In another project, she created writing materials, targeting first graders that created an engaging educational experience. She also introduced new learning methods, ensuring total comprehension for all students, and developing new learning strategies for Chinese reading.
During a very successful research project, she employed different Chinese character recognition strategies that resulted in remarkably different outcomes between 2 competing classes. Sponsoring effective instruction, she promoted training modules among inter-departmental teams, ensuring smooth adoption of new programs. She created and employed special educational strategies and techniques during instruction, greatly improving the students’ sensory/perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory retention. Demonstrating her administrative skills, she also managed a team of Chinese teachers in training and collaborating team efforts that resulted in increasing effective teaching skills and teamwork.
Some of her core qualifications include: TESOL certification; teaching, tutoring and counseling; strong collaboration skills; interpersonal skills; effective time management; proofreading/editing; technological instruction; expertise in Chinese curriculum design and lesson planning; mastery of teaching, listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Chinese; performance assessments; and behavioral/cognitive skills development.
Her past and present professional roles include: Chinese Duel Immersion lead Teacher; Chinese Duel Immersion Teacher; Chinese Duel Immersion assessment team; Curriculum lesson plan and teaching material designer; Startalk Lead teacher and trainer; Provo High school Chinese Teacher September; BYU ENET Chinese Master Teacher; LDS Church Taipei, Taiwan office publishing editor
Nancy’s love for Chinese literature and culture began as a child through the example of her father, who was a middle school Chinese literacy teacher. Her father loved classic Chinese literature, and her most memorable childhood experience was watching him reading ancient Chinese literature, sitting at his favorite study desk. Through his example, she discovered a great love for them herself, filled then with a burning desire to share the same beautiful and rich literacy to others. After entering the United States, she has taught many people Chinese, both adults and young children. She even worked as a teaching assistant while attending BYU, where her students felt her love and passion for her native land, also demonstrating and spreading her cultural experiences and moral values.
Language Learning Experiences:
The fact that Nancy was born in and grew up in naval base villages allowed exposure to and exploration of many Chinese dialects, which fueled a deep fascination for such a wide variety of different spoken languages. At 10 years old she acquired fluency in the Taiwanese dialect by immersing herself with Taiwanese friends and neighbors. At 12, she was introduced to English in school, but the rigid grammatical-based instruction triggered no interest or desire to learn it. In later years, however, she then easily learned Cantonese through the same immersion process that she learned Taiwanese, demonstrating that simply listening to and communicating with the target language was a much more effective approach. She then took a course in Japanese at BYU, but similarly discovered the grammatical-based instruction too difficult to learn well, likewise discouraging her interest in learning it. Her success in learning English also never came from college study, but in daily practical usage and application. Finally, when she was offered to teach a Chinese immersion course to public schools in 2009, she felt total confidence in teaching it.
Nancy’s great love of teaching stems from her affinity for classic Chinese literature, where she became acquainted with the teachings of Confucius. His teachings fascinated her, especially because he taught people from all walks of life, using different approaches to teach the same principles, adapting according to their circumstances. A particularly poignant saying of his became a motto that she zealously followed: “Once a teacher, you become a parent for life.” She considers herself a firm disciple of this teaching, taking her responsibility with a sincere heart, full of conviction. She sees all students beyond their self-prescribed limitations, expanding their horizons, and helping them achieve their full potential. With this goal in mind, she seeks the best strategies for teaching her students.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Family Science: Human Development, from Brigham Young University, Nancy’s light truly shined in her subsequent teaching achievements. She designed, developed and implemented daily lessons, with a full spectrum of the necessary curriculum for success. In another project, she created writing materials, targeting first graders that created an engaging educational experience. She also introduced new learning methods, ensuring total comprehension for all students, and developing new learning strategies for Chinese reading.
During a very successful research project, she employed different Chinese character recognition strategies that resulted in remarkably different outcomes between 2 competing classes. Sponsoring effective instruction, she promoted training modules among inter-departmental teams, ensuring smooth adoption of new programs. She created and employed special educational strategies and techniques during instruction, greatly improving the students’ sensory/perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory retention. Demonstrating her administrative skills, she also managed a team of Chinese teachers in training and collaborating team efforts that resulted in increasing effective teaching skills and teamwork.
Some of her core qualifications include: TESOL certification; teaching, tutoring and counseling; strong collaboration skills; interpersonal skills; effective time management; proofreading/editing; technological instruction; expertise in Chinese curriculum design and lesson planning; mastery of teaching, listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Chinese; performance assessments; and behavioral/cognitive skills development.
Her past and present professional roles include: Chinese Duel Immersion lead Teacher; Chinese Duel Immersion Teacher; Chinese Duel Immersion assessment team; Curriculum lesson plan and teaching material designer; Startalk Lead teacher and trainer; Provo High school Chinese Teacher September; BYU ENET Chinese Master Teacher; LDS Church Taipei, Taiwan office publishing editor
