Faculty & Staff Directory

BEGAN AT CAIS 2020

(See also, School Spotlight—Chu Hsi Tseng)

Hailing from Taiwan, 曾竺西 Chu Hsi Tseng has been working in the Early Childhood Education field for almost twenty years. As a second-generation mainlander in Taiwan, a woman with a lesbian identity, and a family member involved in caring for someone with a disability, she grew up with an understanding of multiculturalism and diversity. She has been passionate about bringing DEI to the school setting and providing an inclusive culture that allows all community members to feel respected and valued in the school.

Growth-oriented and well-versed in educational research, she is the embodiment of a life-long learner. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field, with a second master’s degree in STEM Curriculum and Design. She passionately believes in child-centered pedagogy and adopts a play-based, inquiry-driven approach in Chinese immersion early years classrooms. Her research interest centers on Chinese immersion teaching and instruction and on teacher education. She would like to support early years teachers to build “the image of teacher,” someone who has teachers’ agency and is engaged in continual renewal and readjustment informed by reflection, experimentation, and practice. She believes that only when teachers have awareness of the importance of a growth mindset and engage themselves in the learning process will their students see the model and benefit from it.

Outside of the educational sphere, she enjoys spending time outdoors. She has visited 27 national parks in the United States and has been on many backpack trips. Her greatest accomplishment was hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2020

Ms. Wallace studied Applied Psychology and Human Development within the Lynch School of Education at Boston College before teaching at a charter school in New York City. A mentor teacher and team lead specializing in differentiation and data-driven curriculum design, she also holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education from Hunter College. Ms. Wallace is particularly enjoys deepening her knowledge of Chinese culture and language, and the connections she’s formed with CAIS students and faculty!

BEGAN AT CAIS 2021

Jindan Laoshi is originally from ZheJiang, China. She has been in the US for almost five years and is passionate about education and teaching Chinese language and culture to young learners. Besides teaching, she enjoys hiking, fitness, and playing with her two cats: Teddy and Caroline.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2011

A certified Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) assessor, Wang Laoshi graduated from Taiyuan Normal University with a BA in Education and began her career in a Montessori preschool before joining CAIS in 2011. Wang Laoshi is passionate about her career in education and finds her work incredibly meaningful. She believes in creating a welcoming environment, continually focusing on meeting the varied needs of the children in her care, and on finding exciting ways to integrate technology.

BEGAN AT CAIS 2009

Having taught at CAIS since 2009, Wang Laoshi brings experience and institutional knowledge to her role this year. In addition to her teaching associate roles, she has taken on long-term lead teaching substitute roles at CAIS several times. She has taught CAIS summer camp as a lead teacher and is a certified Oral Proficiency Interview assessor. Wang Laoshi brings a deep knowledge of the needs of our older Lower School students, and she delights in helping them advance their Chinese.

Began at CAIS 2024

Preschool Teaching Associate Danting Wang has almost five years of teaching experience in children’s education, obtained the Child Development Master Teacher Permit, and received first aid training. She loves her job as a teacher very much, and likes to sing with children and share every story which benefits them. She does a lot of exercise in herspare time, and has a wide range of interests, including playing badminton and volleyball, and especially swimming and playing in the water. Watching movies and reading are also her choices sometimes! 

Began at CAIS 2025

Angelina is a Bay Area native who found her passion for education after teaching English in Spain for four years. Prior to her work in admissions at the Alta Vista School in San Francisco, Angelina taught at VIPKid and Auxiliar de Conversación en España and served as a Lead Mentor at Global Leadership Adventures in Costa Rica.

She loves to travel and learn about new cultures, as well as spending time out in nature with friends and family.

Jennifer has been at CAIS since 2022 and comes to us with a wealth of experience and a shared commitment to creating a supportive and enriching environment for our children.  In her spare time, she has a passion for boba tea, food, and traveling!

BEGAN AT CAIS 2011

With son Luca in the Class of 2031 and daughter Evelyn in the Class of 2034, Ms. Willa is a CAIS parent as well as our Director of Educational Technology. Her knowledge and passion for EdTech are as broad and infectious as her smile. Ms. Willa stays on top of the tools and skills that students will need to thrive in our tech-driven world. Her coding class helps students explore their creativity while understanding the logic of coding. Ms. Willa holds a B.S. in Biology from Duke University.

Began at CAIS in 2014

After working for several years in management in the telecommunications industry, Mr. Williamson realized his lifelong dream of becoming an educator in 1989 when he was hired at Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton in the position of Part Time Primary Grades (1-3) P.E. Teacher. The following year, Mr. Williamson found his true calling when he was offered a full-time position in the middle school where, in his sixteen-year tenure at SHS, he taught every course in the middle school catalogue except science and the arts. In addition, he coached both boys’ and girls’ basketball, coached the Sacred Heart Preparatory men’s rowing team, and served for nine years as the lower school/middle school yearbook moderator. Most importantly, Mr. Williamson was a sixth grade homeroom teacher for each of those sixteen years – the genesis of his belief that sixth grade is the finest year of human existence. He moved to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School in San Mateo in 2005, and after two years as a sixth grade lead teacher, was promoted to his first Middle School Director position in 2007. In 2011, Mr. Williamson moved to Orange County to become the Middle School Director at The Pegasus School in Huntington Beach for three years. A fifth generation northern California native, Mr. Williamson was delighted when Head of School Jeff Bissell invited him to return to the Bay Area in 2014 to become the Director of the Middle School at CAIS.

Mr. Williamson holds a B.S. from the University of Santa Clara, a B.S. from the University of San Francisco, and an M.Ed. from Notre Dame de Namur University.