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!