Submitted by Yani Peyton
June 25, 2011
I am packing up my bags and heading back to Baltimore, MD on June 26. My week in China has been an experience of a lifetime; one that I will never forget.
How is it possible to forget all the lovely smiling faces that greeted us at every school we visited? Definitely cannot forget how a high school student diligently helped me with my Chinese knot…she was so patient with me! Or how about the elementary school students that serenaded the Maryland delegate with a touching song about a parents’ love and the eventual aging of our parents. There were very few dry eyes in the room!
It was such a privilege to see first-hand parts of the educational system in China. Both the US and China can benefit from the future partnerships between Chinese and American schools that the 2011 Chinese Bridge program for American Schools aimed to establish. The sharing of best-practices is one that will expose both American and Chinese students/teachers to the unique languages and cultures that exist within each country.
I look forward to working on new initiatives with Hanban/Confucius Institute that will help expose children in China and in the FwFL Chinese program to countries full of rich traditions and languages that are critical in this global environment.
Visit our facebook page in the next few days at www.facebook.com/funwithforeignlanguage to view photos from this truly amazing experience.
Submitted by Yani Peyton
June 21, 2011
My week-long trip to China has been packed with productive meetings with representatives from Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters. Our wonderful hosts and tour guides are managing to squeeze in cultural excursions in our itineraries…
Our trip to the Forbidden City started off a little bit hectic…how do you get about 50 delegates to one place in 20 minutes? Walk fast!!! Even in 90 degree heat! Our perseverance paid off as we were able to make it in before the doors closed. And, it was really worth it. The Forbidden City is a 720,000 square-meter city making it the largest palatial complex in the world with 980 houses! It is where the Emperors and their families of the Ming and Qing dynasties lived from 1386 to 1911. The houses were amazing and all made with whole logs of wood and marble…no nails.
The Great Wall was next on our list. I always knew that the Great Wall existed but never realized that it took you up a very steep mountain and across mountains in China. It is an absolutely breathtaking structure and amazing to believe that it was man-made more than 2,700 years ago. Parts of the wall were built by warring states in China as a way to protect their territory. The actual length of the wall is unknown due to eroding, rebuilding of certain parts, etc but is believed to be about 3,700 miles long. Very long—it would take more than several days to walk the entire Wall!! I made it up further than I thought..it is not an easy climb, especially when climbing in 90 degree temperature, because many sections of the Wall have extremely steep steps. It felt completely invigorating and the higher I climbed, the more fresh breezes brushed my face. The climb completely drenched me in sweat and I did not get a break going down…the descend was difficult too because of the steepness of certain sections of the Wall..my legs would sometimes wobble as I stepped down. When I finally got to the bottom, I, along with many of my co-delegates, purchased much deserved popsicles..I never thought popsicles could taste so good! The Great Wall is surely a sight to see and experience!
Tomorrow (6/22/11), visits to host schools in the city of Tianjin. Check back for more postings on this awesome experience in China.
Submitted by Yani Peyton
After a full day of flying, I have finally arrived in Beijing, China. I was selected, along, with others from around the United States to attend the 2011 Chinese Bridge for American Schools program sponsored by Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters. The week-long program which takes place in Beijing is for educators to start and strengthen their institution’s Chinese programs and partnerships. Hanban is an organization affiliated to China’s Ministry of Education that is committed to making Chinese langage and Chinese culture teaching resources and services available to the world.
I have met delegates from other parts of Maryland and California. Tomorrow (Monday) is the start of the conference and also one of our cultural trips to the Forbidden City. Later on this week, school visits and meetings with Chinese educators, and a trip the The Great Wall. I hope to use some of the basic Mandarin Chinese words that I have learned from my children, who are enrolled in the Fun with Foreign Language Chinese program, with the Chinese educators and native Chinese speakers that I meet while here.
I look forward to the people and experiences that will be a part of this upcoming week! Follow my experiences by visiting the FwFL blog.
Welcome to the official blog of Fun with Foreign Language (FwFL)!
My name is Yani Peyton, and I’m the Director at Fun with Foreign Language. As a mom passionate about foreign languages and culture for children, I started FwFL with the belief that there were others like me in the surrounding area that wanted to expose young children to foreign language exposures.
I am currently raising my children in a OPOL (one parent-one language) household where I speak exclusively to my children in Spanish and my husband in English. We have had success in doing this, but it has not been easy! My 6 year old kids are now enrolled in the FwFL Mandarin Chinese program and they are pronouncing words that I will never be able to pronounce!
Foreign language exposure does not have to be limited to families that speak a second language at home. Families can get involved in the language learning too! There is an abundance of free and not-free resources available to families that want to exposure their children at home to a second language. It does require a commitment of time and finances from families, but it is a worthwhile investment. The children of today will be competing with the world as adults and the world will know more than one language.
I hope you check back on this blog and feel free to add posts of your own. I’ll be adding my own experiences with foreign languages including traveling to foreign countries, international recipes, parenthood stories and more. I hope to encourage others to join in on the fun!