Our Teachers

Our Mandarin teacher Ms Xiaoyu Shi is a trained and experienced qualified teacher born and raised in China. She has gained a qualified teacher status in the UK. She teaches Mandarin at all levels including GCSE, AS and A2.   

She also runs outreach lessons at local primary schools. Her lessons incorporate a wide range of teaching strategies to motivate students and maintain their interest. These included drama, singing, dancing and games.  

She is particularly keen to work in a setting where children can develop their Mandarin skills from an early age and develop a strong foundation for possible future study. 

Ms Maggie Miao graduated from the Department of Drama of the Jilin University of Arts and the Department of Journalism of the Renmin University of China. 

Her dream is to dedicate time to the children and always be the peace messenger of the China and UK cultural exchanges with the children!

She is a painting artist starting at the age of 3 and she is talented at Chinese painting, sketching and oil painting. 

Miss Yvonne Ong is now a new well-trained Mandarin teacher who has just begun to teach. 

She is born and raised in Malaysia. She is also an assistant to Ms Xiaoyu Shi, volunteered in a secondary school.

Max trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and has worked widely in theatre film and television, with acting credits ranging from leading roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company to 'East Enders'.

Max has coached, taught and directed young actors of all ages.

At the Hammersmith Lyric theatre, he has written and directed many shows performed by young people, including ‘Olympic Dreams’ and ‘Journey to the West’.

Max has run a number of youth theatre groups across London and is currently co-director of Brixton Youth Theatre.

On the feature film ‘Thor 2’, Max devised and ran the children’s casting workshops. He also worked on set, helping to direct the child actors. Other young actors coaching credits include ‘Da Vinci’s Demons’ for Sky TV and the film ‘Pigeon English’.

Max has just returned from acting at ‘Theatre by the Lake’ in Keswick and is currently directing a film which he has also written. The film ‘Eye of the Beholder’, in which he played a leading role, has just been nominated for 3 awards at the 'Nice International Film Festival'.