School Staff

ZIS’ faculty consists of fully-qualified and experienced teachers with international teaching experience. All teachers are qualified and certified to teach in their own countries.

The ZIS teaching model consists of two teachers, one Western and one Chinese teacher, in every classroom from Nursery (3 years old) to Year 6 (11 years old). The Secondary Programme, from Year 7 to Year 9 (12 -14 years old) will be opened in August 2008. This co-teaching model allows for close and individualized attention for students, and provides a bilingual and bicultural learning environment for an international student-body.

JoAnn Porterfield is from Toronto, Canada and is married to Mr. Josh Doubleday. Ms. JoAnn is a primary and kindergarten specialist with extensive experience teaching from pre-kindergarten to Year 7. JoAnn has taught in Canada, Columbia - South America, and the United Arab Emirates. Ms JoAnn has a passion for travel, reading and she is interested in learning more about yoga while she is in China. Ms JoAnn and Mr Josh are bringing their new baby daughter Ella to China and are hoping she is able to learn the Chinese language. Ms JoAnn is a teacher that believes in a life long approach to learning. Her integrated teaching skills enable children to use their skills in real-life situations. She is extremely excited to be joining Zhuhai International School.

Mrs. Rosemary Voutilainen is originally from England but currently lives in Finland. She qualified as a teacher at Gipsy Hill College of Education, affiliated to the University of London and is highly specialised in Early Years development. She also has a Diploma of Primary School Music from the Coventry School of Performing Arts at the University of Coventry in the UK. Mrs. Voutilainen has extensive experience as a class teacher working with children aged 4 - 7 in main stream education in Britain. For the past 22 years she has worked both as a teacher and as the teaching Head at an English Kindergarten and Pre-school in Finland. She is very experienced in teaching English as a Foreign Language and specialises in the Early Total Immersion method, where the children learn a normal kindergarten curriculum through the medium of English and the goal is additive bilingualism. Mrs. Voutilainen also enjoys making music with young children and loves the challenge of encouraging each child to reach his/her full potential in all areas. She believes every child is special and individual, and wants to increase their self-esteem, thirst for knowledge, ability to think for themselves and their social and ethical awareness. She likes the classroom to be colourful and stimulating with displays of the children's work, so that the children have pride in their work and develop a strong work ethic. Mrs. Voutilainen can speak several languages including Finnish, with a working knowledge of French and German. She also plays the piano, guitar, viola and recorder. Mrs. Voutilainen is very excited to come to China and to be a part of the development of such an impressive school. She is looking forward to learning about the culture and the language which is so different from that in Britain and Finland. She enjoys reading, playing the piano, going to concerts and spending time with her friends.

Ms Rachel has 17 years teaching experience in her native New Zealand, England, Indonesia and China; most recently at Yew Chung International School in Shanghai. Ms Rachel has taught at various levels of Primary and Middle school and is well qualified to teach primary school for the upcoming school year. Her other experiences include the conducting of choirs and directing of school drama productions. Rachel is interested in Art and Literature and is well traveled, particularly in China. She is looking forward to improving her Mandarin and becoming a part of the ZIS community. Rachel is married to Mark who will teach in the Secondary School and together they have three young children who will attend ZIS.

Mr. Mark Williams joins us in our new Secondary School with over 25 years experience teaching upper elementary and middle school students. Born in Fiji, Mr. Williams grew up and attended university in New Zealand. He has significant international experience and has taught in Australia, London, Indonesia and China. Mr. Williams is married to Rachel, who is also a teacher, and they have three young children who will join the school. ZIS will be Mr. Williams third International School. He is well experienced in China having spent 7 years at Yew Chung International School in Shanghai as both a middle school generalist and later as a mathematics and science specialist. His interests include a range of sports including golf, tennis, rugby, cricket and athletics. Mr. Williams was selected to represent New Zealand in an international road relay and is an accomplished marathon runner. He is widely traveled and intends to take every opportunity to further explore China. He and his family are very much looking forward to becoming a part of the Zhuhai International School community.

Richard Ballard is from Reading, England and is married to Elissa Ballard. Mr. Richard is also a specialised physical education teacher and has experience teaching curriculum across a number of subjects and levels. Mr. Ballard has extensive experience in IT and has been involved in many multimedia productions in schools.

Josh Doubleday is from Toronto, Canada and is married to JoAnn Porterfield. Mr. Josh is a specialized art teacher and has taught art from Kindergarten to Year 12. Mr. Josh is also IB trained as a CAS Coordinator and has experience coordinating the CAS program for secondary school. Mr. Josh is also specially trained in IT particularly in graphics applications such as Photoshop. He also has been very involved in the coaching of sports teams such as Volleyball and Softball. Not only is Mr. Josh an Art teacher, but he is a professional Artist who has had art shows in Toronto, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Mr. Josh is extremely excited to be exposed to the wonderful artistic culture that exists in China.

Ms Shirley Hui was born in China, and raised and educated in Hong Kong.She has lived in North America for thirteen years.Ms Hui has an Education degree from Faulkner University in the United States and is certified to teach in the state of Alabama.

Ms Hui has been teaching for over 10 years.Two years ago she returned to China and taught at QSI in Zhuhai.

Ms Hui has three children, Cathan 10, Jonathan 8 and Benjamin 6 who are also part of the ZIS community.

Ms Hui is attracted to the model of education at ZIS and believes her background in western schools along with her Hong Kong background will be of significant advantage to the school community, especially in her role as a teacher of Chinese. Ms Hui believes that everyone can learn, and learning is a process. Her goal is helping children enjoy the learning process and bringing out their best potential. ZIS looks forward to Ms Hui's contribution as a facilitator between the Chinese and western community.

Ms Liang is from the city of Changsha in Hunan province, China, and graduated from Hunan Normal university with a Master degree of Chinese. Nancy loves education, has strong responsibility and team cooperation spirit. She has rich experience of teaching and a strong capacity in communication and coordination. She was a teacher in South Vocational College where she taught Social Linguistics and taught Chinese in middle school in Changsha. Her teaching goal is to let kids have the chance to develop creatively in school. She confidently devotes herself to spreading Chinese knowledge and Chinese culture at Zhuhai International School.

Ms Wen is from the city of Huang Gang in Hu Bei province, and graduated from Huang Gang Normal College with Bachelor’s degree of Education in English. Ms Wen loves teaching. Her dream and ambition is to contribute her knowledge in society by means of teaching students and giving direction or help for the good of their future. She taught English in middle school in her hometown Hu Bei. She believes every language is beautiful, and is very happy to be a Chinese teacher in Zhuhai International School. She would like her students to learn more Chinese culture in her teaching, and at the same time, develop her career and realize her dream in depth.