Our Team

Alice Hung – Director

Alice Hung is a native Mandarin speaker who grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. Influenced by her father, a successful entrepreneur with a formal western education from the U.S., Alice moved to Philadelphia after graduating from college to further her education. She earned a M.S. from Temple University and a M.B.A. from Wayne State University.

Alice has a strong enthusiasm to promote Chinese culture as well as a desire for her own children to learn her mother language in a fun and entertaining atmosphere. She started this program with a vision to create an environment where children can effortlessly and naturally learn the Chinese language.

Ling-hua Shih - Program Director/Lead Teacher in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Ling-hua Shih teaches Fun with Panda classes at Bloomfield Hills/West Bloomfield locations. She also is a music and creativity teacher at Bloomin’ Kids Preschool in Bloomfield Hills School District, the Kid’s Church Pastor at New Life Christian Church, and a Children’s Program Director at many annual conferences.

Ling-hua has devoted much of her heart and life to Child and Youth Education for over 26 years. She has mastered various skills in children’s program design, development, coordination, and execution while her personality, creativity, tendering love, and communication skills are a perfect match for children of all ages. Combing her passion in working with children and promoting the Chinese culture, Ling-hua also taught at the Southern Michigan Chinese School for five years.

Ling-hua received a four year formal education at Norman National University in Taiwan and then began her career in education, teaching middle school for five years. After settling down with her family in Michigan, she continued her career as a preschool teacher.

Eunice Peng - Managing Director

Eunice Peng loves working with children of all ages! She is a certified elementary school teacher in both North Carolina and Michigan and has experience teaching multiple subjects from Kindergarten to 8th grade. She has also taught child development soccer classes at Total Soccer for children ages 21 months to six years.

Eunice was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. As a child, she attended Chinese school every Saturday. She also took three years of Chinese at UCLA, where she graduated with a B.A. in Economics/International Area Studies.

In 2002, she moved to North Carolina with her husband for his graduate studies. After working with undergraduate students at Duke University for two years, she realized her passion was to teach younger children. She moved here in 2005 and currently lives in Northville with her husband and son.

Diane Hopkins – Marketing Director/Lead Teacher in Birmingham, Michigan

Diane teaches Fun with Panda classes at Bloomfield Hills Montessori Center and brings energy and excitement into each class. Previously, she was a pre-school teacher at Bloomfield Hills/Birmingham Learning Center.

As an honor graduate from one of Taiwan’s most prestigious universities and a passionate and experienced language instructor, she is uniquely prepared to teach for Fun with Panda and can utilize her previous classroom experience.

Diane’s distinctive characteristic as an instructor is her ability to connect with children and patiently nurture growth. Her animated teaching style captivates children and makes learning both fun and productive. With a broad portfolio of teaching techniques geared to engage all types of learning styles, Diane bridges the span between East and West with intelligent and sincere instruction.

Lorrie Douglas – Director of Business Development

Lorrie has had a life long dedication to increasing cross-cultural communication. In addition to developing new sites for our Michigan Fun with Panda programs, Lorrie works as a business management consultant in her company, Illuminating Management, LLC. She has many years of experience in management, marketing, and education.

Originally from Chicago, IL, Lorrie moved to the Ann Arbor area in 1980. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Music Therapy from Illinois State University, a Masters Degree in Social Work Administration from the University of Michigan, and an International MBA from Fox School of Business at Temple University in Philadelphia. Lorrie completed this degree while studying in France and Japan.

Yi-Chia Schmaeman – Lead Teacher in Grosse Ile, Michigan

Yi-Chia retired in 2007 from Ford as a Product Design Engineer. She is now focusing on her hobbies, her favorite being a Chinese teacher! Her other interests include biking, camping, backpacking, swimming, sailing, reading, sewing, woodcarving and crocheting. Yi-Chia is also involved in community service for local charity organizations, the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts.

Yi-Chia was born and raised in Taiwan before her family moved to Michigan when she was a teenager. Having the advantage of being educated in Taiwan and the United States, Yi-Chia has the unique talent to inspire her students to understand and appreciate the Chinese culture from a different perspective.