Progressive Chinese School in NYC
DSC_0651.jpg

About Us

Passion. Experience. Results.

20190120_142235.jpg

Dedication
Experience
Results

We have abundant experience teaching employees working for corporations in different fields, such as finance, banking, technology, fashion, art, education, and government services. Professionals from a wide range of companies and students from different education institutes(listed below) have taken classes from our dedicated teachers.


Our Experience

We have worked with professionals from different companies, including:

Screen Shot 2019-02-17 at 3.02.55 PM.png

Corporate (Private/Group Classes)

  • Renaissance Technologies Corp.

  • Google Inc.

  • Christie’s Auctions & Private Sales

  • Sotheby’s

  • Michael Kors

  • Banco de la Nación Argentina

  • ITC Holding Company

  • Rent the Runway

  • Bloomberg

  • Department of Homeland Security

  • Capital One

  • Factset

  • Figma

  • Microsoft

  • etc…

Universities

  • Chazen Language Program, Columbia Business School, New York, NY

  • Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures at Columbia University, New York, NY

  • Fordham University, New York, NY

  • Community Language Program at TeachersCollege, Columbia University, New York, NY

  • Barnard College, New York, NY

  • Hunter College, New York, NY

K-12 schools

  • The Calhoun School, New York

  • The Spence School, New York

  • Xavier High School, New York

  • Elisabeth Morrow School, NJ


Our People

We don’t believe that anyone who speaks a language can teach it. The quality of our teachers is our biggest pride.

Our teachers are professionally trained in prestigious universities, and have rich experience in teaching. We teach mindfully, always reflecting and adjusting our curriculum according to students’ progress.

profilepic.jpeg

Founder/Featured Teacher

Yutong Chen

Yutong has been teaching Chinese for seven years. She teaches both Mandarin and Cantonese. Yutong has always been a language lover, not surprisingly, she is also a polyglot—she can speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, German, and a bit Spanish. Growing up in Guangdong, China, she loved English but wasn’t completely happy with the way it’s taught in school, where it was taught in an outdated and rigid way. She was always in the search for more authentic learning materials outside of school. Yutong felt the needs for a revolutionary way to teach and learn a foreign language, one that is interactive, up-to-date, relevant, and real. Having taught foreign languages for a long time, Yutong sees the frustrations coming from following a textbook that is not personally meaningful, and following a curriculum that’s pure lecturing. Therefore, Yutong joined Unlock Chinese, a modern Chinese school in New York City, a real way to learn Chinese, aspiring to aspire students one class at a time.

Education

TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK
M.A., Applied Linguistics, 2014

SUN YAT-SEN UNIVERSITY, GUANGZHOU
B.A., Business English, 2012

UNIVERSITÄT ZU KÖLN, GERMANY
Linguistics, 2011

 

Featured Teacher

Ting Bell

Ting has been teaching Mandarin at Manhattan College for eight years and a heritage Chinese school (Chinesetime, NYC), with the prior experiences of teaching ESL and Chinese in the DOE system in New York City.  Her training in Literature Writing and Teaching Chinese as well as ESL enables her to compare the linguistic structures of English and Chinese as well as  creative, literary applications of both languages. Adhering to student-centered, culture-based instruction, her teaching caters to the goals, interests, and learning styles of each individual student of all ages and levels. Growing up in Harbin (Manchuria), China, she is passionate about sharing her first-hand cultural experiences with all her students. 

Education

STEINHARDT SCHOOL OF CULTURE, EDUCATION, AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (2010)

M.A. in Teaching ESL & Chinese

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (1995)

B.A. in Literature Writing

 

Featured Teacher

Mia Kaiji Liang

This is Mia, and I'm thrilled to invite you into the realm of language and cultural exploration. My world revolves around the art of language teaching, where I find immense joy in employing interactive and immersive methodologies to bring languages to life. My journey began at the University of Florida, and my fervent love for language led me to dive deeper into the realm of teaching. Currently, I'm on an enriching path dedicated to exploring innovative language teaching approaches. If you share a passion for languages or seek engaging teaching strategies, I'm here to collaborate and exchange insights. Let's embark on this wonderful language-learning journey together! Thank you for joining me on this adventure!

Education

TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK
M.A., Applied Linguistics, 2023

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

B.A. Education Sciences, 2021

 

Featured Teacher

Zhanar Toktarbay

Zhanar is a dedicated language educator and researcher with a Ph.D. in Language Policy (and a Master Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language) from Beijing Language and Culture University. She has nearly 20 years of teaching experience, having taught at universities and colleges in Kazakhstan, Canada, and the United States. She has developed her own teaching methods for native Russian, English, and French speakers. Her expertise lies in teaching Chinese from beginner to advanced levels, curriculum development, language analysis, and intercultural communication. Fluent in multiple languages (Mandarin, Kazakh, Russian, English, and Persian), she also actively participates in international conference translation and publications, bringing a global perspective and empathy to language education. She is passionate about promoting intercultural understanding and is committed to adapting her teaching methods to different learning environments and students’ personal needs.

Education

Beijing Language and Culture University
PhD, Language Policy

Beijing Language and Culture University
M.A., Teaching Chinese as a Second Language