Dr. Helena Curtain

Dr. Helena Curtain is a leading world language educator. Her areas of expertise include second language teaching methodology and curriculum development, bilingual education, and immersion programs, especially at the elementary school level. She served many years as Foreign Language Curriculum Specialist for the Milwaukee Public Schools, where she coordinated and supervised K-12 foreign language and ESL programs. She was an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and directed the Foreign Language and ESOL teacher preparation programs. She has published various articles on world language instruction and co-authored (with Carol Ann Dahlberg) Languages and Learners: Making the Match, a remarkable resource for language educators. Dr. Helena Curtain is active professionally and has received regional, state, and national awards for her service to the language teaching profession. She has also served as a speaker, consultant, and visiting professor throughout the United States and internationally in more than 30 countries.

Dr. Meng Yeh

Dr. Meng Yeh is an internationally known expert on Chinese as a World Language. She received a Ph.D. in Linguistics and a Master’s in Foreign Language Education from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a Teaching Professor of Chinese at the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication at Rice University. Her areas of expertise include language pedagogy, assessment, curriculum design, L2 literacy development, and second language acquisition. Dr. Yeh co-authored two widely used and highly acclaimed sets of Chinese textbooks, Chaoyue: Advancing in Chinese and The Routledge Course in Modern Mandarin Chinese. She is the founder of the Texas Chinese Language Teachers’ Association and has served on the board of the National Chinese Teachers’ Association, as well as the Chinese SAT and AP Exam Committee. Dr. Yeh is a distinguished postsecondary educator and has received the Sarofim Teaching Award from Rice University. She has extensive experience with STARTALK and has offered professional development workshops for language teachers and designed Chinese language and culture summer programs for K-12 students at STARTALK Programs since 2007.

Ms. Haewon Cho

Ms. Haewon Cho is currently Director of the Korean Language Program in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Lecturer in Foreign Languages at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds M.A. degrees in both Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Washington. She has extensive teaching experience and has taught all levels of Korean in the U.S. Ms. Cho has co-authored multiple highly acclaimed textbooks and reference books, including You Speak Korean!, a Korean language textbook series, and Korean Grammar: The Complete Guide to Speaking Korean Naturally. She also co-authored Epic Korean, a Korean language textbook series for secondary school students in the U.S. She is a certified ACTFL OPI Tester and WPT Rater. Ms. Cho is actively involved in professional organizations and currently serves as the secretary of the Korean SIG of ACTFL. She is knowledgeable about the STARTALK-endorsed principles and her areas of expertise include pedagogical contrastive linguistics, task-based, and learner-centered pedagogy, and instructional technology.