About Us

Dr Xiaoying Xu (徐霄鹰)

Xiaoying has been teaching Chinese full time since 1996, when, as a new MA graduate in Chinese Literature, she joined the Centre for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at Sun Yat-sen University in China.

(Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou, is considered the top university in the southern region of China, and is ranked in the top ten Chinese universities. Internationally, it is ranked in the top 400 world universities, grouped alongside New Zealand's Canterbury and Waikato Universities.)

Xiaoying rose from being a junior teacher to become, in 2009, the Head of the Language and Culture Academy at Sun Yat-sen University, which is the section of the university that focuses on teaching Chinese to international students.

In 2002, Xiaoying gained her PhD in Chinese Literature. Her thesis, which was an anthropological study of the folk beliefs of women in a Chinese Hakka village, was published and has become one of the key works in this field.

In 2003-2004, Xiaoying spent a year in Thailand, teaching Chinese at a Thai university. At this time, in 2004, she also became an Associate Professor in Chinese as a Second Language at Sun Yat-sen University.

While continuing to teach language fulltime, Xiaoying has also maintained her interest in Cultural Studies. Between 2009 and 2013 she taught graduate courses in both Intercultural Communication and Chinese Culture, and has published in this area.

Alongside her fulltime classroom teaching, Xiaoying has published extensively, including language textbooks and academic journal articles. Her academic research has focused on:

(1) The learning requirements of specific cultural groups, especially (a) learners from non-Chinese character cultural spheres and (b) Thai learners.
(2) Textbook/teaching resource assessment.
(3) Textbook/teaching resource development.
(4) Extensive reading.
(5) Acquisition of Chinese.
(6) Cultural teaching.

While holidaying in Malaysia during her Thai university break, Xiaoying met her future husband, Glenn, a Kiwi from Auckland. Glenn moved to China in 2005 and they have two children together, Mulan and Miya, who are both bilingual in Chinese and English. In late 2014, Xiaoying resigned from Sun Yat-sen University and the family moved to Auckland's North Shore, where they have set up home.

Since the beginning of 2015, Xiaoying has been teaching students of all ages from a classroom set up in the family home.

We are excited to continue to offer Chinese language and culture courses in Auckland, playing our own small part in helping to create a better understanding between New Zealand and China.