About our school
Our Vision
Birmingham Academy of Chinese Language and Culture (BACLC) is a supplementary education centre, with the aim of helping children from the Chinese communities as well as all communities in Birmingham to develop not only their Chinese language skills but also a deeper understanding and appreciations of Chinese culture and the multicultural cosmopolitan British society. We want to cultivate their interests in Chinese cultural activities to maintain Chinese traditions in modern British society. Consequently, they will gain more cultural confidence in a multicultural environment, lay a solid foundation for their future career and build a balanced view towards the world for their future life.
BACLC addresses the importance of the ‘cultural wellbeing’ of every child. Through Chinese language courses in both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese as well as Chinese cultural activities such as traditional Chinese musical instruments, Chinese chess, Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting, we aim to cultivate the inner confidence and positive personality of every child, stimulating their academic potential and intellectual capabilities on the basis of their cultural confidence. This also helps to break down barriers between races and national boundaries.
Mandarin Chinese supplementary training is one of the main educational provisions of BACLC. One of the defining features of BACLC is the adoption of small class sizes teaching. It is our philosophy to provide a personalised training programme for every student. In addition to Mandarin classes, the school also offers free Bible study classes to help our children understand the tradition of British culture in order to better integrate into mainstream British society. Meanwhile, our Presentation Skills and Performing Arts classes are designed to enhance students’ intercultural capabilities. We stress the creativity of intercultural experience in an educational environment, to enable every student to understand and appreciate not only Chinese culture but also all cultures around the world.
In the future, BACLC will offer various language, art and music courses, designed to achieve a balanced development for our students, in particular children’s cognitive capabilities. We will also introduce multiple interactive activities such as early childhood education and vigorous intelligence training, focusing on developing children’s emotional capabilities. In addition, we help parents to develop their children’s emotional management skills including self-control, self-motivation, interpersonal relationships and crisis management. Parents often overlook critical skills to develop their children’s self-confidence, self-discipline, and self-motivation, which are important emotional skills for children. These emotional skills will enable children to become responsible and independent individuals with great leadership skills and positive personalities.
Welcome to the HAPPY FAMILY of Birmingham Academy of Chinese Language and Culture!
Our School Management Structure
BACLC is governed by a Board of Directors, which is responsible for setting the goals and vision of the academy as well as assisting the management team in achieving its purposes and plans.
The headteacher and the deputy headteacher are the core leaders of BACLC, who are responsible for the development and the implementation of its policies.
The Parents’ Committee liaises between the management team of the school and the parents, assisting the Directors as well as the headteacher and deputy headteacher to organise and implement learning activities and to improve, publicise and promote community projects of BACLC.
Organisational Structure
Teaching Team
Ms Yuzhi Jin
Chair of the Board of Directors of BACLC
Teacher of A-Level and GCSE classes.
Ms Jin completed an MPhil in English Language and Literature from Xi’an International Studies University in China and an MA in Audit from Birmingham City University. She currently teaches at Edgbaston High School for Girls, with many years of experiences in teaching A-Level and GCSE Mandarin Chinese. In the meantime, Ms Jin teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students at University of Birmingham. Ms Jin also works as a Board of Director for EduArk, and currently is the Manager of First-Class Learning Kings Heath Centre, a UK branded education provider.
In her early years, Ms Jin was engaged in English language teaching at Shanxi Normal University in China. From 2012-2015, Ms Jin served as Vice Principal, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors and Secretary-General of Mingham Modern Chinese Language School. In 2014, Ms Jin organised and hosted ‘2014 UK Cross-Strait and Overseas Chinese as well as International Chinese Students Christmas Concert and Chinese Children’s Talent Show’ in conjunction with the London Sino-British Dance and Cultural Arts Federation, the Midlands Chinese Association and Birmingham Chinese Students and Scholars Association.
Ms Xiping Shinnie
Headteacher of BACLC
Teacher of Pre-GCSE Class and Classic Chinese Level (1)
In the past, Ms Shinnie has worked as a lecturer at two universities in China. She also held key teaching positions at several Chinese schools in Birmingham. Meanwhile, she has maintained professional connections with Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. With an MA in Translation Studies from the University of Birmingham, she worked as a teaching associate at the University of Birmingham, delivering teaching and supervision for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Currently, she works as a full-time business management lecturer at Birmingham City University, undertaking a PhD fully funded by Birmingham City University. She is now working on developing Multicultural Embeddedness theory, committed to promote Multicultural Embeddedness theory in her teaching as well as management practice.
Ms Qiaoyan Lin
Deputy Headteacher of BACLC
Teacher of the Early Learning Programme
Ms Lin holds a Bachelor’s degree in English (International Business Law) from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and LLM ( International Business Law) from the University of Manchester. She is a fellow Certified Chartered Accountant (FCCA), with eight years of experience as a group consolidated accountant in facilities management and real estate management industries. She is also the director of VEV imports and exports ltd, leading her team to win awards in its specific field on multiple platforms. Ms Lin is deeply aware of the importance of transnational culture experience to the future development of the next generation and has developed strong interests in early year education as well as its applications.
Ms Nana Zhao
Cultural Activities Officer of BACLC
Teacher of Presentation Skills & Performing Arts classes and Classic Chinese Level (3)
Ms Zhao graduated from the Performing Arts School of the Beijing Film Academy in 2001 under the supervision of Professor Qi Shilong and Mr Huang Lei. She is currently the President of the the Sino-British Cultural Exchange Society Birmingham Branch. She has starred in a number of Chinese films and TV series in China. In the meantime, she has hosted several large-scale cultural events and has supervised her students to participate in Chinese cultural performances in the UK.
Dr Jenny Wong
Teacher of Biblical Studies Class and Classic Chinese Level (2)
Dr Wong is a former Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University-Beijing Normal University Joint International College. She has also taught translation programmes at several Hong Kong and UK universities. At present, she serves as the voluntary Director of the Society for the Promotion of Biblical English Literature. Meanwhile, she completed a PhD in Literature and Theology from the University of Glasgow. Currently she works as a lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham, delivering English-Chinese interpreting and translation modules for postgraduate students.
Ms Dan Chen
Administrative Secretary of BACLC
Ms Chen graduated from Changchun University in Jilin Province. Changchun University is a comprehensive university in Jilin province. It is one of the first universities in China selected as a recipient of the Chinese Government Confucius Institute Scholarship.
Ms Yichen Dai
Teacher of Classic Chinese Level (1) and Happy Chinese Level (2)
Ms Dai has an MA degree in English Linguistics from the University of Birmingham. Currently she works as a researcher for the UNESCO World Language Map project. She is also a gold medal lecturer recognised by a number of well-known language training institutions in China.
Ms Wei Xia
Chair of the Parents’ Committee at BACLC
Ms Xia graduated from the Business School of Jilin University, where she completed her degree in Marketing. On completion of her degree, she worked in the China Telecom Corporation Limited for eight years, serving as a customer manager specialising in training and assessment.
Mr Trevor Priest
Vice-Chair of the Parents’ Committee at BACLC
Having been introduced to China’s rich culture and language by my wife, who is an experienced traditional Chinese medicine doctor, and seeing my two sons benefit from learning Chinese language and culture, I am honoured to play a part in the academy and help to promote Chinese language and culture in Birmingham.
Ms Shenying Li
Vice-Chair of the Parents’ Committee at BACLC
Ms Shenying Li hold an MBA from the University of Manchester. She worked at G10 Design for over 10 years as an account manager and secretary for the Chairman of the board. At G10 Design, she was in charge of the development of the market, the management of the design team, improvement on the system flow of the organisation as well as the assistance on the formulation of management strategies. Together with her colleagues, she successfully expanded G10 Design to four times of its original size. Currently she is running her own printing design and property management companies.
Contact Details
Please contact us in Mandarin Chinese or English
Ms Yuzhi Jin: 07905486027
Ms Xiping Shinnie: 07585076756
Please contact us in Cantonese Chinese
Ms Qiaoyan Lin: 07817178910
Ms Nana Zhao: 07825001557
Email Address:
contact@birminghamacademychinese.org
