Faculty & Staff Directory

Began at CAIS 2024

Preschool Lead Teacher Jessie Dong is from Shandong, China, and is the mother of a lovely six- year-old girl. She graduated from Beijing Normal University, majoring in preschool education and worked in Montessori schools in Beijing and Xiamen, China for 20 years. She has been to international schools, kindergartens,and children’s houses. She enjoys spending time with children very much; accompanying and helping them grow gives her great satisfaction. She likes nature, painting, music, riding bicycles, and cooking. She also enjoys spending time with her family! 

Began at CAIS in 2004

Coach Douglass joined the CAIS community in 2004 as a physical education teacher for grades K-8. She is originally from Maine and returns to Maine every summer. She served in the United States Airforce before receiving a B.S. degree from West Chester University in Pennsylvania and completed her M.S. degree in Sport Psychology in the East Bay. She is passionate about physical activity and feels fortunate to be able to share her passion with children. Some of her favorite activities are running, skiing and mountain biking. It is her belief that physical education can be used for much more than teaching sports. It provides students an opportunity to use games for self expression, cooperation, confidence, cooperation, health, and wellness.

Began (again) at CAIS 2023

“Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts that stood their ground.”

— Henry David Thoreau

“It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see.”

–Henry David Thoreau

Began at CAIS 2024

Began at CAIS in 2020

Ms. Julie Farrell fell in love with China on her first trip as a high school student and enrolled in Mandarin classes immediately upon return. Her passion for Chinese language continued well into college and beyond, amplified by language intensives with Middlebury College and the US Department of State. Ms. Farrell holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from New York University and an M.Sc. in Agroecology from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She spent several years working with NGOs across southwest China, supporting farmers in rebuilding robust sustainable food systems. She also served young learners as an experiential educator, developing school garden curriculums in Chinese public schools and designing courses in China and Taiwan for American high school, middle school, and college students. Ms. Farrell’s favorite place on earth is a rural kitchen. As a long time resident of Sichuan, she never turns down a spicy hot pot.

Began at CAIS in 2020

Ruiting was born and raised in China and has been in San Francisco for seven years. Her passion from early on has been for teaching, especially early childhood education and curriculum design. She studied Early Childhood Education at City College of San Francisco and then completed her BA in Child and Adolescent development with a focus on School Age Child and Family at San Francisco State University. Ruiting is honored to have graduated summa cumme laude in her class. Before joining the CAIS community, she taught at Bright Horizons, Presidio Knolls School, and Saint Anne Chinese School. She enjoys helping children learn to love learning, both in language acquisition and social emotional development. Ruiting’s hobbies include traveling, learning about others’ life stories, and discovering new cuisines. (Ruiting is also fluent in Cantonese.)

Began at CAIS 2022

BEGAN AT CAIS 2022

Ms. Foster joined CAIS in 2022 after working as a librarian at The San Francisco School, San Francisco University High School, and Commodore Sloat Elementary. She also had a long career in nonprofit administration with local organizations such as First 5 San Francisco and the Brava Theater Center. She holds a Master in Industrial Administration from Purdue University and a Master of Library and Information Science from San José State University. In her free time, she enjoys paddleboarding, yoga, camping, and relaxing with a good book.

Began at CAIS in 2010

Fu Laoshi has been at CAIS since 2010 and has been a lead teacher in the Preschool for the past eight years. Fu Laoshi finds working with young children challenging and satisfying. She enjoys watching their abilities develop and grow. In particular she enjoys seeing children with no Chinese background first become comfortable with Chinese and then really start using it to communicate. As an English language learner herself, Fu Laoshi knows that learning a second language is challenging. She is always so proud of how well our students learn at CAIS. Fu Laoshi likes to add music and movement into her classes and she believes this is a fun and easy way to learn a second language, especially for young children. It is her hope that all children will be happy in her class and learn Chinese.