Our Team
Katie Bidstrup As the Area Owner for Contra Costa County (East Bay, CA), my goal is to bring quality classes to parents, throughout the week and in convenient locations, while also ensuring that their children have fun learning another language. What truly makes our classes successful, however, is most definitely our devoted and tireless teachers.
Lango's teachers make our classes truly exceptional. In our selection process, we look for five distinct qualities: native/bilingual fluency, limitless positive energy, creativity, teaching experience with relevant age groups and finally, outstanding communication skills with both children and their parents. Beyond these qualities, though, our teachers bring unique cultural perspectives and professional backgrounds that enable them to create rich, engaging experiences in the classroom. View our Contra Costa County teachers below to learn more about them.
Sergio Benito Ariza is a native of Madrid, Spain. He holds a BA in Spanish from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and an MA in Spanish from Saint Louis University. Sergio has experience teaching Spanish as a second language at the university level as a professor at Saint Louis University’s Madrid campus. As Director of the Spanish Department for the School’s summer camps, Sergio coordinated and managed various kids Spanish camps, classes and extracurricular activities. Since moving to California, Sergio has been working as a spanish teacher in after school programs. He loves to create kid activities and his energy and enthusiasm are infectious.
Ping Chen a Beijing native, came to the U.S. in 2008. Prior to relocating to the States Ping received her Bachelor's of Chinese for Foreigners degree from Beijing Language and Cultural University, a Certificate For Teaching Foreigners Chinese and other graduate and undergraduate degrees in telecommunications and science. Ping has been teaching Mandarin for about 20 years and has also worked as a Mandarin Chinese curriculum designer and instructor. She has been working with Lango for over a year and enjoys teaching children about her homeland. In her free time, Ping enjoys singing, dancing, gardening, camping and spending time with her beautiful German Shepherd.
Lining Du grew up in Beijing, China and has been living in the United States for over 10 years. Before moving to California, Lining lived with her family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where she worked for many years as a medical researcher. She has a great passion for language and especially enjoys working with Children. She previously taught Mandarin to children at the Carolina School of Languages and has also worked and volunteered her time to teach children about Chinese language and culture at elementary schools and churches. Lining is very excited to share her culture and experiences with the children of the Bay Area!
Kendra Smith graduated from the University of Oregon Honors College with a double major in Journalism and Communications: Magazine and in Spanish. She lived in Seville, Spain, in 1995 and has tutored kids and adults in Spanish and English as a Second Language. Her love of words and language has not only inspired her to travel to many foreign locales, but to also begin studying Italian.
Yalan Tsai is a native of Taiwan where she received her Certificate for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (K-12 Pedagogy program) from Mandarin Training Center NTNU, as well as a BFA from National Taiwan Normal University. In addition, she has also obtained a MFA in Illustration from Academy of Art University in San Francisco, a skill she enjoys putting to work with ideas for her mandarin students. Her experience includes implementing developmental and age appropriate curriculum and teaching Mandarin to children. She is an illustrator in her spare time and is an 18th Hsin Yi Children Picture Book Award winner. We're lucky to have her and the additional creativity and enthusiasm she brings to classes!