Shelley Xiao was born, raised, and educated in China. While attending school, she taught Chinese literacy, math and music to “at risk” students in Shanghai, China.

She has hosted numerous musical shows in Shanghai’s major theaters, performed voice-overs for cartoons at the Shanghai Animation Movie Producer since she was 11 years old, and received awards for theater stage plays while in China.

After working for China National Automation Control System General Corp. as an accountant and company-wide auditor, she came to the United States and studied finance at the Leeds Business School, University of Colorado, Boulder. Shelley has worked as a Senior Financial Analyst for multi-billion dollar companies for more than ten years.

Shelley taught Chinese language at the Rocky Mountain Chinese School for five years and for one of her former employers for four years.  She is currently teaching at the Great Wall Chinese School. She has translated business plans from English to Chinese and from Chinese to English, reviewed documents written in the United States for Chinese partners, and assisted in multi-language conference calls.

As a Toastmaster, she has won club, area and division speech contests. Truly, Shelley’s experience in language, culture, business and training makes her classes informative and powerful, while her open and caring personality makes the classes relevant and interesting.

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Courses:

Chinese Language
Chinese Culture—General
Chinese Culture—Business
Chinese Culture—Getting Around
Chinese Culture—Long-Term Stay
Chinese History

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What people say about Shelley Xiao:

• “I would highly recommend Shelley as an instructor for Chinese Language. She is very energetic and gets everyone involved. In many cases, our class had wide range of experience in speaking and writing Chinese. Shelley is able to involve everyone–regardless of their experience level–in the learning process. She also brings interesting life experiences into the classroom, and combines cultural knowledge with the learning of the language. She is very good at making people comfortable in learning a new language and encouraging progress and learning through class participation. Her flexibility, expertise and energy are essentials in being able to teach a diverse group of people looking to improve their understanding of the Chinese language, both written and spoken.” –Patrick Sullivan, Systems Engineering
• “You are a great teacher!  I enjoyed every bit of your classes.  You are very good at breaking down the language in a way that we could understand and learn – for listening, speaking and also writing. The classes were always interesting because you provided a lot of cultural background and insight which kept the language alive, and stimulated the class interest.  I love listening to your little side stories and explanations which enriched the whole experience, and definitely provided many ways to make the material making more sense and to be easier to remember. As a result of your teaching, I now have the skill and confidence to understand and speak basic Chinese, and I have great memories of the time you taught me those.  Xie Xie Lao Shi (”Thank you teacher” in Chinese).” –J. Malcolm, Engineer Director
• “Shelley was my instructor in Mandarin for over 3 years.  She put much effort into it to ensure that we not only learned the language and Chinese characters, but also learned much about the culture.  She also made learning Mandarin fun by creating bingo games and organizing a dinner at a Chinese restaurant where we had to order in Chinese.  After being in her class for only 4 months, I went on a business trip to Taiwan, and was able to speak a little to help get around, as well as understand context of conversations in Mandarin while in business meetings.  This was invaluable to me in my business dealings and helped them go more smoothly.  I would highly recommend Shelley as an instructor of Mandarin.” –Jackie Frankovich, Reliability Manager
• “Shelley Xiao is a wonderful teacher! She taught Mandarin Chinese to people at my workplace. She is very responsible and dedicated teacher.  She worked hard to bring new things to make the class fun and the learning memorable including leaning Chinese songs, poem and stories.  Her class was one of the most important events in my week.  She truly cared that the class learned and made progress.  She did a great job making it happen. We miss her!  Xie xie lao shi (”thank you teacher” in Chinese)! –Karl Enarson, Senior Engineer
• “Thank you for the speech.  Thank you for being the person you are: kind and thoughtful, sensitive and creative, a generous and thoughtful speaker.  You are unselfish with your gift, making us feel special and important.  It is a privilege and a pleasure to know you.  Shelley, Please consider going to international, you have what it takes.”–Dana Morgan, Past District Governor
• “Shelley! I just wanted to tell you that it has been a true honor and pleasure to hear you speak so passionately every time.  I have been extremely inspired time and time again by the power and emotion you bring to the lectern. You truly are an amazing and dynamic speaker.  I want you to know that you have really helped me with your positive energy, your high impact communication skills and your effective feedback.”–Ashley Bartczak, E5 Area Governor