My name is Judy Wang Bedell and I was born, raised, and educated in Beijing, China. I have been an instructor in Chinese and cultural enrichment since 2004; I want to help people make connections with my native country. My educational background was in Computer Science and Engineering (B.E. from Tsinghua University, Beijing; M.S. from University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.) I was a software engineer for twenty-two years. With my husband and children I lived in Paris for a year and a half and returned to Salem in the summer of 2008.
In January 2009, I started Panda Land, a new endeavor to teach Mandarin Chinese to local residents. In my first newsletter, I expressed my thoughts behind Panda Land:
While my family and I were living, working, and studying in Paris and travelling around France and Europe, I came to realize that the world has changed. In Paris, I saw many Chinese people – tourists taking photos of the Eiffel Tower, local residents running Traiteurs Asiatiques (Chinese take-out restaurants) next to sidewalk cafés, business people meeting on the Champs-Élysées. During our travels I saw Chinese flags flying from hotels in Rome, and Chinese visitors in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain. I was surprised and glad to see that China has arrived in the world and the world has embraced its people and culture.
Now that I am back home in Salem, a city famous for its own history with China, I would like to share Chinese language and culture in our neighborhood. If you want to learn Chinese yourself, or cultivate the Chinese heritage of your children, or simply raise them as tomorrow’s citizens of the world, I am at your service.
Since then, Panda Land has three small classes for 12 children and teenagers in Salem and Marblehead, as well as a private tutoring for one adult. As word has spread and demand has grown, we are starting a new class for adults at The Salem Athenaeum.
Through this class, I want to foster knowledge of China through discussion and informal instruction in conversational Mandarin at Beginner and Advanced-Beginner levels. A textbook will be used but the students will set the pace. Each class will be limited to ten adults. Payment will be on a per-session basis. Class schedule and cost will be determined after preliminary enrollment.
If you are interested, please come to our introductory meeting.
Free Introductory Information Meeting
Time: Saturday, May 30 at 10 AM or Thursday, May 28 at 7 PM
Place: The Salem Athenaeum, 337 Essex Street, downtown Salem.
Contact: Judy Wang Bedell, (978)-998-9317, judy.bedell@gmail.com
The Salem Athenaeum, (978)-744-2540, www.salemathenaeum.net
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