{"id":44,"date":"2016-09-18T03:39:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T03:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/?p=44"},"modified":"2021-04-03T02:54:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T02:54:22","slug":"welcome-to-the-pandatree-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/18\/welcome-to-the-pandatree-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the PandaTree Blog!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-46\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/iStock_12321969_SMALL-300x244.jpg\" alt=\"Children holding hands around the globe\" width=\"691\" height=\"562\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">PandaTree was launched to help kids learn foreign languages in a way that is fun, motivating and effective. We\u2019ve been thrilled with the response from parents, who, like us, are looking for ways to offer their children the opportunity to learn a foreign language, knowing the benefits only increase as the world becomes more globalized. &nbsp;PandaTree has been discovered by families around the world \u2013 including Norway and New Zealand!&nbsp; We are grateful to our students, their families and to our 20-and-growing amazing tutors.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\"> <!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">We started out offering Mandarin and have since added Spanish tutoring, with more languages to come.&nbsp; We\u2019ve also launched a <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"https:\/\/pandatree.com\/mandarin_for_beginners\">Mandarin for Beginners<\/a><\/span>&nbsp;program and a <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"https:\/\/pandatree.com\/spanish_for_beginners\">Spanish for Beginners<\/a><\/span>&nbsp;program with a structured curriculum aligned to <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.actfl.org\/global_statements\">ACTFL standards<\/a><\/span>.&nbsp;We&#8217;ve continued to develop innovative content to get students engaged. With their tutor, students can even virtually tour 3D environments &#8211; like a mangrove swamp in Madagascar or The Great Wall in China &#8211; to truly put language learning in context.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">Since our launch, research has continued to confirm the benefits to children from foreign language learning \u2013 from improved judgement, to increased test scores in core subjects, to greater cultural understanding and empathy.&nbsp; The research doesn\u2019t capture the joy from being able to communicate with grandparents in their native tongue or having a spontaneous conversation with a local while traveling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">There is growing parent interest in foreign language learning. In the last two years another 25 Mandarin Immersion programs have opened bringing the number to <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"https:\/\/miparentscouncil.org\/full-mandarin-immersion-school-list\/\">218 in the United States<\/a>.<\/span>&nbsp;According to the Center for Applied Linguistics there are <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"http:\/\/webapp.cal.org\/Immersion\/ImmersionList.aspx\">276 Spanish Immersion programs<\/a><\/span>. Many immersion programs report being over-subscribed. In 2016, eight additional states began to offer the <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a style=\"color: #333399;\" href=\"http:\/\/sealofbiliteracy.org\">Seal of Biliteracy<\/a><\/span>, bringing the total to 23, to recognize high school graduates with proficiency in two or more languages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">With this blog we aim to keep in touch with parents and educators interested in foreign language learning. In future posts look for us to explore the research on foreign language learning, tips for parents looking to support their language learners and more.&nbsp; And always, we welcome your feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">Kristina<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: #333333;\">Founder &amp; CEO, PandaTree<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PandaTree was launched to help kids learn foreign languages in a way that is fun, motivating and effective. We\u2019ve been thrilled with the response from parents, who, like us, are looking for ways to offer their children the opportunity to learn a foreign language, knowing the benefits only increase as the world becomes more globalized. &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/18\/welcome-to-the-pandatree-blog\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Welcome to the PandaTree Blog!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[5,2,3,4],"coauthors":[16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dashboard.pandatree.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}