2027 CLTA TOY 

Zoey Liu Zoey (Zheyi) Liu is the 2027 California Language Teachers’ Association (CLTA) Teacher of the Year and a Mandarin Chinese teacher at Monta Vista High School in the Fremont Union High School District, where she also serves as World Language Instructional Department Lead. Across fourteen years in California public schools, she has taught Chinese from the novice level through AP while championing a core belief that world language education is, at its heart, equity work—that when students move between Chinese, English, and the languages of home, they do not lose themselves but enlarge. Liu’s influence reaches well beyond her own classroom. She is an instructor and Strand B leader for the Stanford World Language Project, training teachers to design proficiency-focused thematic units, and she serves as World Language Subject Area Coordinator and lecturer at San José State University, mentoring the next generation of educators. She is a co-author of the Go Far With Chinese textbook series (Cheng & Tsui) and a frequent presenter at CLTA, ACTFL and Department of Defense Education Activity trainings nationwide. Grounded in Global Competence, Universal Design for Learning, and culturally sustaining pedagogy, Liu designs instruction with multiple entry points so that heritage speakers, beginners, multilingual learners, and neurodivergent students all belong. A previous recipient of the CLTA Teacher Leader Award and the Yao Memorial Outstanding New Teacher Award, she holds an M.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. from DePauw University. Her deeper subject, she says, is human connection.