Learn Yu Wen Learn Chinese language and culture.

          The American Council on the teaching of foreign languages or ACTFL, just concluded it's 2010 annual conference in our very own Boston.  The conference was held in the Hynes Convention center over a period of three days Nov 19th-Nov21.   Hundreds of attendees were showing off the latest in technological innovations in language learning.  Learn Yu Wen took it's place alongside it's counterparts and made inroads into the teaching community;  There was a good showing of it's employees with most coming for all three days of the event.

          I arrived mid-morning on Friday and was waiting in a very long line.  But I found it quite fascinating as I was conversing with a Japanese teacher from Detroit and a Chinese teacher from New York.  After getting my pass at security I proceeded up to the third floor and entered into the convention hall.  I walked around and saw all the different booths representing numerous cultures and languages.

          Just about every continent on the globe was represented by an institution promoting it's main spoken language.  Every language from German to Swahili was in attendance.   The two giants amongst all these languages were clearly Chinese and Spanish.   From a rough estimate, it would appear that at least 30% of the displays were devoted to the study of the Chinese language.  Spanish would be the other major hitter with around 40% of the displays.  It was quite clear to see the direction in which the world's study of foreign languages was shifting.

          Learn Yu Wen, was showing off it's products.  We were giving out free samples of the latest edition of our supplemental learning material.  Also on display were several wall posters which place an emphasis on learning the Chinese radicals, which are the key to unlocking the character structure and meaning.  Another popular item were playing cards, specially designed for learning phrases and characters.  I considered picking up a pack, not because I'm a gambler, but simply to play and learn.  

         I talked with many Chinese language educators, and was very interested in what they had to say concerning the difficulties that non-Chinese speakers in their classes had.  It was mostly with the the tones and the writing and memorization of the Characters.   Having lived in China for several years, I can safely agree with them as I had the same issues when learning the language.

         Also at the ACTFL conference, numerous workshops were held in other rooms off from the main display area.  In these workshops were demonstrated new methods of second language acquisition.  Learn Yu Wen's guest speaker Wendy Da, gave an engaging presentation about her teaching methods at the Shanghai American school.   It's a rather interesting situation as she is teaching foreign nationals who currently reside in China and must come to terms with learning the language and culture quickly.

         ACTFL certainly gave me a lot of memories and opened my eyes to just how big the world is, but also to how small it's gotten.  How it's almost becoming a necessity to learn a second language in this new century, if not for business then for diplomacy and good citizenship.  Having made many new friends and acquaintances over the weekend, I look forward to the next ACTFL conference.

Best wishes,

Ryan Daniels/Educational Advisor