CHENG & TSUI Professional Development Grant for Teachers of Chinese
Call for Applications:
CLTA: 2025-2026 Cheng & Tsui Professional Development Grant for Teachers of Chinese
(Deadline: November 30, 2025)
The Chinese Language Teachers Association invites proposals for the Cheng & Tsui Professional Development Grant (hereafter “PD grant”) for Teachers of Chinese, which is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of teachers of Chinese, especially teachers new to the field. The grant is given to support the attendance of pre-collegiate (including heritage school) and collegiate teachers at training workshops, seminars, conferences, and other in-service learning experiences at local, national, or, international levels; and/or to collaborate with a mentor teacher. Teacher training workshops and seminars attended by the applicant should be focused on Chinese pedagogy and issues of Chinese teaching and learning. Cheng & Tsui has designated an annual amount of $1,000 to be split among the recipients. The recipients will be expected to submit a summary report of their training experiences at the end of the grant term.
Application:
The applicant must be a member of CLTA-USA. To apply for the Cheng & Tsui Professional Development Grant for Teachers of Chinese, please submit:
(1) a one-page statement stating the purpose to which you would put the Grant, the amount of subsidy requested, and a proposed budget. Remove any identifying information, including your name and your institution in this statement.
(2) a current Curriculum Vitae.
(3) the completed award application form.
Deadline:
Submit the above documents to the CLTA Award Committee at cltaaward@gmail.com, with the subject line of “2025 Cheng & Tsui PD Grant Application” by November 30th, 2025. Identifying information will be removed prior to anonymous review. Recipients will be announced and will receive the grant at the 2026 CLTA Conference Awards Ceremony. The name(s) of awardee(s) will also be reported in the CLTA Newsletter and on the CLTA web page.
Past Recipients:
| 2003: | Jin-huei Enya Dai (University of California, Santa Barbara) CLTA Paper Title: “Character-based Situational Instruction.” |
| 2004: | Peng Wang (Georgetown University) CLTA Paper Title: “Using Internet to Facilitate a Business Chinese Course.” |
| 2005: | Hsiao-Chi Su (Chinese American International School, San Francisco) Project: “Week-long workshop at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota.”Yan Xie (Northfield Mt. Hermon High School, Massachusetts) CLTA Paper Title: “Establishing the Positive Attitude Toward Learning Chinese: Considering the Motivational Differences in Teaching Heritage and Non-heritage Students.” |
| 2006: | Jianling Liao (University of Iowa) CLTA Paper Title: “The Impacts of Synchronous Electronic Discussions on L2 Chinese Essay Writing.” |
| 2007: | Yongfang Zhang (The Ohio State University) CLTA Paper Title: “Written Chinese (shumianyu): A Sequential Approach to Build Learners’ Comprehension.”Chunxia Wang (University of California at Davis) CLTA Paper Title: “PowerPoint-Facilitated Classroom Chinese Language Teaching: Five Design Principles.” |
| 2008: | Yunghung Sandra Hsiao (Indian Trail Academy, Kenosha, WI.) Project/Purpose: “Attending a one-week workshop on Chinese pedagogy at Singapore American School, Singapore..”Ming Tang (Father Ryan High School, Nashville, TN.) Project/Purpose: “Attending the 2008 CLTA/ACTFL conference in Orlando, FL..” |
| 2009: | Yan Wang, (Fayette County Public Schools, Lexington, KY) Project/Purpose: Attending 2009 CLTA/ACTFL conference in San Diego and presenting a paper about a standard-based, proficiency focused Chinese K-3 curriculum.Caryn Rossi Louie (North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC) Project/Purpose: Attending the 2009 National Chinese Language Conference in Chicago for developing knowledge and skills in using interactive videoconferencing to teach Chinese across the state of North Carolina.Chen-hui Tsai (The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA) Project/Purpose: Attending 2009 CLTA/ACTFL conference in San Diego and presenting a paper entitled “CFL Teacher Technology Development: Practice and Challenges.” |
| 2010: | Shu-ling Wu 吳淑鈴 (University of Hawaii at Manoa) Project/Purpose: Support her presentation on L2 Chinese acquisition at the 1st Teachers College, Columbia University Round Table in Second Language Studies.Jia Yang 杨佳 (The Ohio State University) Project/Purpose: Attend the CLTA conference and 2 workshops at the conference. |
| 2011: | LIAO Haohsiang (Ph.D. candidate in Chinese Language Pedagogy at Ohio State University) – to attend the OPI Familiarization Workshop at ACTFL/CLTA in Denver.YE Lijuan (Ph.D. candidate in Applied Linguistics at Georgia State University) – to attend the ACTFL/CLTA Conference in Denver and to present her paper “Should We Delay Teaching Chinese Characters in US-based Chinese Programs?” |
| 2013: | Ying Feng, University of Mississippi – to cover the cost of transportation to attend Middlebury’s Chinese MA program and the fees for textbooks. Ying Liu, Ursinus College – to attend an OPI workshop at ACTFL and make a presentation at the CLTA annual conference in Orlando, Florida. |
| 2014: | Carl Polley, Lecturer in Languages, Linguistics and Literature, University of Hawai’i Kapi’olani Community College – to support attendance and presentation at the First CLTA International Symposium on Chinese Language Teaching and Learning (CLTA-ISCLTL), October 25 and 26, 2014, at Indiana University in Bloomington. Ruihua Liu, Chinese teacher in the Houston Independent School District – to defray the cost of her participation in the STARTALK program at the University of Hawaii this summer. |
| 2015: | Qiaona Yu, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa – to support her first time attendance and research paper presentation at the ACTFL/CLTA Conference in San Diego, November 20-22, 2015. Qiuping Yuan, the Lake Shore High School, Michigan – to support her to attend a TPRS Workshop held in Detroit in September 2015. |
| 2016: | Xue Xia, the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa – to support her paper presentation at the ACTFL/CLTA conference in Boston, November 18-20, 2016. Xizhen Qin, the University of South Florida – to fund for her ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview tester recertification. |
| 2017: | Donglin Chai （柴冬临）, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD, to support her to attend the 2018 CLTA Annual Conference |
| 2018: | Qian Wang, The Ohio State University: proposed to use funding support for travels to CLTA Annual Meeting to present on “A new way to teach adjectives”; Sicheng Wang, University of Iowa: proposed to use funding support for travels to CLTA Annual Meeting to present on “Developing oral reading proficiency” |
| 2020-2021: | Yanrong Qi (University of Oklahoma); Wanching Hsieh (University of Pittsburgh); Ji Ma (Georgia State University); Cindy Y. Chung (National Taiwan Normal University); Ling Zhai (University at Buffalo); Chelsea Nakabayashi (Bard High School Early College) |
| 2021-2022: | Lini Polin (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Purpose: Support her participation in the 2022 CLTA Annual Conference and the 2022 AERA (American Educational Research Association) Annual Meeting in San Diego.Bonnie Wang (Durham Academy Upper School) Purpose: Support her participation in the 2022 CLTA Annual Conference, the 2022 National Chinese language Conference, and the NCLCC Workshop: Chinese American Studies in Heritage and Non-Heritage.Yina Patterson (Indiana University- Bloomington) Purpose: Support her participation in the 2022 CLTA Annual Conference and the 2022 National Chinese Language Conference. |
| 2022-2023: | Jing Gao (Ankeny Centennial High School) Qiang Zhang (Harvard University) |
| 2023-2024: | Bing Mu, University of Rhode Island Fan Fan, University of Pittsburgh Jinhui Wu, Reed College Langhong Liu, Wake Forest iStem Magnet Elementary School, Boston University |
| 2024-2025: | Ye Zheng (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “Chinese Modal Verb Teaching: An Analysis of Hui and Neng Misuse Among L2 Learners”
Wei-Yi Lee (University of Georgia). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “Understanding Perceptions of Mandarin Chinese Varieties Among Chinese Heritage Learners of Taiwanese Ethnicity in the United States” Yi-lu Kuo (University of Chicago). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “A Comprehensive Approach to Developing Chinese Language Skills in Beginning Heritage Learners” |
| 2025-2026: | Mengtian Chen (Duke Kunshan University). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “Using VoiceThread microlectures as out-of-class support for character teaching and learning in flipped Chinese language classrooms”
Shuyi Wang (Pomona College). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “Sociocultural impact on language and language teaching: the case of érhuà in L2 Chinese” Xiaorong Wang (University of Chicago). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “Enhancing Business Language Education through Domain Analysis: Addressing Global Workplace Needs” Lu Yin (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). Purpose: attendance and presentation at the 2025 CLTA Annual Conference: “Cooking Up Enrollment: How an English-Taught Chinese Cuisine Course Attracts and Retains Students” |