TAO HONG, Academic Director.  A native of Beijing, Tao Hong received her B.A. in English Literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University (Bei Wai) in 1988, a Certificate in Applied Linguistics from the University of Warwick, England, in 1994, an M.A. in Chinese Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Chinese Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducting research on Chinese phonology.  She taught English at Beijing Foreign Studies University from 1994-1998, winning a Best Teacher Award (ChenMeijie Jiang) in 1996, and has taught all levels of Chinese at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then at Princeton University from 1998 to 2004.  She was also a Foreign Student Advisor and Administrator in the International Students Office at Beijing Foreign Studies University, 1988-1993.  In 2002, Tao Hong was one of the lead instructors, coordinating the 4th level, for the Princeton-in-Beijing program at Beijing Normal University (Bei Shi Da). She is familiar with both the city of Hangzhou and Zhejiang province and has long been captivated by the cityscapes and surrounding countryside, which are so typical of southern China, as well as the local cuisines.


 JEREMY FRIEDLEIN, Resident Director.  Jeremy has studied and worked in China and Taiwan for almost a decade. As a student, he spent a year in southern China teaching English to undergraduate and adult learners.  After graduating from North Carolina State University with a degree in China Studies in 1999, he served as Resident Director for CET's Beijing program.  He then relocated to Taiwan where he spent seven years teaching English as a Second Language to children, youth and adult learners. As Resident Director of the School in China, Jeremy works primarily with students and their Chinese roommates, coordinating orientation, activities, student meals, and trips.  He meets frequently with students, both informally and during regular office hours, to discuss their adjustment and goals.  Jeremy's experiences as an independent language learner and direct enroller at Chinese universities make him a valuable resource to students who want to take their language learning beyond the classroom. A staunch and enthusiastic advocate of the language pledge, Jeremy helps every new program participant make the transition to speaking only Chinese from the moment they arrive to the moment they return home. Jeremy is an avid runner, though not a very fast one.

LU BIN, Program Consultant. Having served as the CET Program Coordinator on behalf of the Harbin Institute of Technology between 1988 and 2003, Lu Bin is a veteran program administrator whose expertise includes teacher training, academic coordination, and logistics. At CET Harbin, Lu Bin oversaw a wide variety of program elements, from class scheduling to student management. She also developed and managed new programs on behalf of the Foreign Service Institute.  Lu Bin comes from a family of academics, and her own education was at the Harbin Institute of Technology. She is excited both about the opportunity to apply her experience to the Middlebury program and the chance to live in beautiful Hangzhou.

The School in China hires and trains instructors, many of whom are teachers at or graduates of institutions of higher education in Hangzhou. All receive training in a communicative-based pedagogy that addresses all five skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge) and is the product of cooperation between ZUT, the academic director, the Middlebury Chinese Department, the summer Language School, and CET. In addition, some faculty will be chosen each year to teach in either the academic year or summer Language School programs on the Middlebury campus and/or other CET programs.