Jian Li
A native of Shanghai, China and an anthropologist by trade, Dr. Li has long immersed herself in learning and teaching languages and cultures. At 12 years old, she picked up English; at 16 she began teaching it in an elementary school in Shanghai.
Jian Li joined the Alcuin faculty in 2014 helped establish the school’s Mandarin program. She has been teaching Mandarin to students in the Upper School for ten years.
Although Mandarin is not the easiest language to learn, Dr. Li’s students really enjoy learning it for its uniqueness and beautifully written characters.
A native of Shanghai, China and an anthropologist by trade, Dr. Li has long immersed herself in learning and teaching languages and cultures. At 12 years old, she picked up English; at 16 she began teaching it in an elementary school in Shanghai.
She earned a bachelor’s degree English language and literature and taught English at Tsinghua University in Beijing for three years. In addition to English, she has added French and Japanese to her repertoire. Her love of language and culture led her to pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology from Southern Illinois University.
Prior to teaching Mandarin in Alcuin, she taught anthropology at the College of Charleston and conducted workshops on cross-cultural communications with a focus on China.
For Dr. Li, language and culture are intertwined. She loves to travel and has been to Cananda, Mexico, Britian, France, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong and back to China for a few times. She looks forward to one day taking her students on a visit to China so they can experience the language and culture for themselves.
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