Welcome to the Chinese I/II class at Soldan International Studies High School.

My name is Yanjun Song. I was born and grew up in China during the era of Reform and Opening. When I am reading Chinese novels, reciting poems, watching plays and listening to operas, the beauty and expressing power of this language attracts me deeply. So I studied Chinese language and literature and became a Chinese language teacher to explore the beauty of this language with my students. I had taught Chinese in secondary schools for two years in China. 

I am a traveler with an open heart to embrace all the beauty of the heart and the world. I studied Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages and launched my career abroad. I had taught Chinese seven years in the universities in Thailand. At the same time, I was also training my students for the Chinese Proficiency Test, training Thai Chinese teachers, training students for Kungfu performance, and training my students for the Chinese Bridge competition.  All of these gave me great satisfaction and fulfillment.

After 9 years of teaching in a classroom setting, I started to teach Chinese to individual students (one-on-one) when my husband and I moved to Kurdistan, Iraq. One of my students went to China and amazed everyone when he was speaking Chinese confidently after only about 30 hours of instruction from me. 

In 2019, I enrolled in a PhD program in Wisdom Studies at Ubiquity University. Here I am gaining new knowledge involving the content of my studies, and the framework of scholarly research and investigation. 

The United States is the fourth country for my Chinese teaching career. The love for students is my strength and the growth of students is my pride.  I am happy to accompany students on this journey to discover and explore this ancient, dynamic and powerful language and culture.