Fifth Grade Teachers

Mrs. Gallardo currently teaches 5th grade ELA at YHALE. She began her teaching career in 2006 when she took at position teaching in South Korea. After teaching for two years, she obtained a Master’s Degree from Biola University in TESOL. Cara has been teaching for 16 years. Over the 16 years, she has taught at a private elementary school, state charter school, and multiple universities including, the University of California, Irvine, Mercer University, SCAD, and the California State University, Fullerton. Cara has also held multiple administrative roles including, Associate Director of the English Language Program at Mercer University’s International Program and Director of After School Program at Irvine International University. Mrs. Gallardo loves teaching and enjoys challenging students to always do their best. Her role at YHALE includes, ELA support, 5th Grade ELA and Title 1 Reporting.

Mrs. Hudson holds her Bachelors in Education from Valdosta State University and her Masters in Education from Georgia State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She has 26 years of teaching experience including private schools, public schools, international schools, and an university. She holds a current Georgia teaching certificate and is a specialist in Singapore Math Education. One fun fact is Mrs. Hudson has lived in 31 different houses in 3 different countries!

Mr. Kang earned his master’s degree in World Language education from Georgia State University. He also earned his bachelor’s in Applied Linguistics and ESL from Georgia State University as well. He finished the Korean teacher teaching program at Korea University in July 2019. He is a certified Korean teacher and has teaching experience in South Korea and Mexico. He joined YHALE at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year. He mainly teaches the 5th-grade Korean class and supports Korean language classes and Special Education.

Ms. Xiong, 熊老师, joined YHALE in July, 2022 as the fifth grade Mandarin teacher and MSOL support teacher. She is a Chinese native speaker who was born and raised in Hunan, China. In 2014, she received her Master of Education Degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining YHALE, she taught Chinese in a K-8 charter school in central Pennsylvania for 8 years. She has presented several times at ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), NCLC (National Chinese Language Conference) and PSMLA ( Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association) conferences. In her spare time, she loves to read and travel.