What position do you hold at Wenhui Language? What has been your career path so far?
Kara: I founded the language school in 2013 after working for many years as a Mandarin teacher at other schools in Beijing. I wanted to make a school with only the best teachers and with a fun learning environment where foreigners from all over the world can come and learn Mandarin and gain an understanding of Chinese culture.
Earlier I have been working in bigger schools, but I believe that a small language school as Wenhui Language is able to offer the students more flexibility comfort and a more personal learning environment.
Although I manage the language school I still love teaching and being in close contact with the students at the school. I have classes with students and I always try to develop my teaching and keep the classes practical, fun and interesting.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
Kara: I believe that a successful language school is about more than just teaching the same classes over and over again. Chinese culture is so embedded in the Chinese language and therefore we also combine our language courses with different cultural courses and free cultural events for the students. This gives students a better understanding of both Chinese language and the culture, and how they are intertwined.
It also makes the language school a social meeting point, where our students meet both foreigners and locals and gain a network in Beijing. Furthermore our students come from all over the world, so we always try to tailor our classes, to create a good learning environment for every student.
I believe that these different factors are very important to be a successful language school and to give the students the best experience in China.
What about the future of the industry? How do you think study abroad and international education will change over the next 10 years?
Kara: I believe that traveling abroad and learning new languages will become more important as we have also seen in the last couple of years.
The world is becoming more and more global, and having a deep understanding of other countries, cultures and languages, and having an international network, is increasingly important to become successful and to make a good career.
China is one of the biggest and fastest growing economies in the world, and learning about Chinese culture and language is undoubtedly a great investment for the future. So I believe that the industry is growing and that the future of international education looks bright!
Why is language learning and cultural immersion important to you?
Kara: As I mentioned earlier the world is becoming more and more globalized and to move about in this global world understanding a foreign language and culture becomes crucial.
Especially in China learning the language teaches the students so much about Chinese culture and values, that it enables the student to interact with Chinese people and become part of the Chinese society.
I think that this adds much value to the world view of the individual student, and can create global citizens with a more differentiated view on the world.
Furthermore learning about a foreign culture and language also gives students the opportunity to understand their own culture from a different point of view. So I think that people can gain from this both individually but also professionally as a great boost to their CV.
