Cousins Jennifer Yang (left) and Cindy Yang Field (right), Co-Founders of Welly Chinese. Photo from Welly Chinese
By Barbara Yau, AsAmNews Contributor
Welly Chinese, an educational company started by a pair of cousins last year, has launched its line of bilingual activity books with accompanying podcasts to teach the Chinese language and culture to young children through theme-based play.
When Cindy Yang Field and her cousin, Jennifer Yang, started their company, their focus was to create content that would incorporate a sense of excitement and enjoyment for children and help them form positive associations with learning Mandarin and Chinese culture from an early age. Field acknowledged that this was crucial, as her own personal experience with language learning as a child was not so positive.
“I hated going to Chinese school and even refused to speak Chinese at home,” stated Field, who was born in Taiwan and raised in Toronto. She added that she was disconnected from her heritage until she had an ‘identity crisis’ in her 20’s, leading her to reconnect with her culture.
Field’s ties to her culture strengthened further after speaking with Yang who worked as a Chinese language teacher in San Francisco. Their conversation made them both realize that they shared a passion for educating children through innovative methods. With years of experience working as a product manager, Field knew she had found the perfect partner in Yang to create Welly Chinese and their line of products.
The Welly Chinese books are accessible with English, Mandarin, and pinyin on every page, and parents and their children can watch the accompanying podcast to access correct Mandarin pronunciation for the stories. Each book is focused on a different cultural theme or story and offers immersive ways, such as crafts, recipes and daily affirmations, to apply the theme. Their best selling titles include The Little Monkey King, The Twelve Chinese Zodiac, and Legend of Mulan.
Field stated that their line of books are different from the others offered in the space. “We emphasize a lot more on different ways to reinforce the same concept through stories, writing practice, mini games, and hands-on crafts. Most other learning materials are focused on repetitive exercises. We also incorporate social-emotional learning opportunities with daily affirmations and feelings cards. For us, the meaning of success is not how many characters you are able to write, but how much you understand the concept and how it can be applied in your everyday life,” stated Field.
While the content and materials have been designed with young children in mind, Field stated that their products can be enjoyed by all members of the family.
“Families of all kinds can learn together. Also, our hope is that second and third generation Asian Americans can use this to remain connected to their heritage,” said Field.
Field and Yang will soon introduce their special bundles that will include both books and craft materials. Additionally, there will be a summer bundle, which was created to meet the needs of children and their parents who are now spending more time at home due to the pandemic.
| Their products are presently available online on their website www.welly.co) and on Amazon. |
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RE: Bilingual activity books and podcasts teach kids Chinese language and culture: Sounds like a good program. I went to Hebrew school as a kid. All we did was read out loud and copy Hebrew paragraphs. I learned how printed Hebrew words should sound, but little else.