MOONSHOT ACADEMY

MOONSHOT ACADEMY

Janice Zou

Chinese teacher, Chief of the grade

Janice graduated from Beijing International Studies University with a bachelor's degree in Chinese language and literature. She then earned a master's degree in teaching Chinese as an international language from the Education University of Hong Kong with Distinction. She is also certified as an IBDP Chinese teacher by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). Jiajing has taught IB courses at the United World College (UWC) in Changshu, China, and Huijia Private School in Beijing.

Currently, she teaches high school liberal arts Chinese courses, a special elective on Overseas Chinese Life under the Immigrant Literature Filter, and basic Chinese language courses. Additionally, she serves as the head of grade 12 and a personal coach, supporting students' development and growth for four consecutive years.

Janice specializes in course creation and PA task design. She has contributed to the development of liberal arts Chinese courses and independently created "Fundamental Chinese Language and Literature： The Written World" and "Overseas Chinese Life under the Immigrant Literature Filter" special electives. She has also developed basic Chinese language courses independently. Her self-created PA "Play from the Heart" was featured in MSA's "Performance Assessment Task Collection," and she wants to inspire more teachers through her work.

She began studying immigrant literature during her undergraduate years. Her paper, "A New Writing of American Chinese Immigrant Society and Immigrant Mentality - On the Cultural Implications of Novel Collection <A Good Fall>," won the Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis award. At MSA, she created the special elective course "Overseas Chinese Life under the Immigrant Literature Filter" which helps students understand the experiences of overseas Chinese depicted in immigrant literature. This course encourages students to reflect on their potential future experiences abroad and explore their inner resilience.

Curriculums2

Chinese Language and Literature

This is a year-long fundamental course to guide learners through Chinese historical and literary texts to enhance their understanding of Chinese culture while improving literacy skills in the meantime. From the works of pre-Qin philosophers to contemporary literature, learners will be encouraged to integrate various sources of information with a critical perspective to develop deeper insights into culture, history, and society.

Overseas Chinese Life under the Immigrant Literature Filter

In the course, we will read poems and novels that contain diverse immigrant cultures, learn to appreciate works, and understand the author's writing choices from the perspectives of language, ideas, images, and emotions, based on their historical background and personal life experience, and know how to share our own reading feelings and opinions to gain aesthetic experience.

At the same time, through a comprehensive understanding of the life of overseas Chinese presented in immigrant literature, we will think about the situation we will face when we live abroad in the future and, in the process, explore the spiritual pillars that support our overseas study life.

Projects2

Let's write the "A Good Fall" manual together

Disciplines/Subjects: Chinese Language Arts, Sociology Key Themes: Immigration literature, new immigrants, mentality Homesickness is a small stamp. I'm over here, Mother is over there. Since 1978, batches of intellectual elites have chosen to cross the ocean to study in the US. Compared to the earliest group of Chinese labor immigrants who came to the US for "gold mining", the name "new immigrants" has emerged due to the huge changes in their knowledge background and immigration purposes. As intellectuals who are "new immigrants", some of them choose to return to China for development after achieving success in the US, while others choose to continue to realize their "US dream" and become residents. Over time, the social structure of Chinese immigrants in the US has gradually become richer and more complete. With the increasing diversity of Chinese immigrant society, "New Immigrant Literature" has gradually prospered. Nowadays, a group of new immigrant writers not only express their frustrations and feelings directly through narrative descriptions of life but also learn to dig out the insights of different groups and cultures on life and the examination of human nature from the complex details of life. Learners will determine the theme they want to explore about the living conditions faced by new immigrants based on personal experiences/interviews with Chinese people who have lived overseas, search for relevant information, and write a paper combining their understanding and analysis of new immigrant literary works (novels) related to the theme to explore the inner strength that can support the mentality of new immigrants. All the papers written by the learners will be compiled into a handbook that explores the living conditions and mindset themes of new immigrants. This not only examines the learners' understanding and interpretation, analysis and evaluation, focus and organization, and language abilities but also provides a better guide for learners who are about to study abroad to "take root".

The Chinese Classics Editorial Department has published a new book!——Study of Tang and Song Dynasty Poetry

Disciplines/Subjects: Literature Key Themes: Classical Chinese Poetry, Tang and Song Dynasty Literature "How can one speak without learning poetry?" Poetry, amidst nature and daily life, becomes the most authentic expression of human emotions. The Tang and Song dynasties represent the zenith of ancient Chinese poetry and lyrical composition, giving rise to countless distinguished poets, lyricists, and outstanding works. Poetry and lyrics, with their beautiful language and profound emotions, hold an undeniable value for our aesthetic tastes, emotional expression, and creative abilities. However, in this era of "fast entertainment," how many people would delve into the beauty of poetry and lyrics beyond what is required by schools for recitation and dictation? Do we truly understand the aesthetic and cultural connotations carried by poetry and lyrics? What can we do to deepen our appreciation of the beauty of poetry and lyrics, and also introduce the charm of Tang and Song poetry to more people? In this "The Chinese Classics Editorial Department has published a new book!" PA task, we will transform into editors of Chinese classics, planning, publishing, and printing a book for the study of Tang and Song poetry and lyrics according to the needs of our audience, and placing it in the library so that more members of the Moonshot Community can experience the beauty of poetry and the cultural connotations it contains. At the same time, each of us is also an author of this book. We choose a poet or lyricist from the Tang or Song dynasty that interests us, and based on "Know Others and Discuss Their World", we delve into their poetic works based on our understanding and insights, producing a text analysis article. In this text analysis article, everyone will interpret the themes and central ideas, structure, development, word choice, and the author's viewpoints and purposes of poetic works.