For better or for worse , I’ve started to notice a trend in foreign language education.  Apparently, pandas are the most qualified to teach children foreign languages.   Of all of nature’s animals–monkeys, giraffes, sharks, owls, etc … — pandas are the one animal who’s language ability surpasses all the other animals and is the animal that children will listen to while learning languages.  Don’t believe me?  Just take a look at some of the products out there which feature pandas as the teacher.

Panfu: virtual language learning world
	Panfu is an online language learning world for teaching children Spanish.  According to their website their pandas have taught over 4.5 million users.  If you follow their guide you can get a “virtual tour of the world of pandas!“
Click here to view the embedded video.
Little Pim: language learning DVD’s
	Little Pim is a series of French, Chinese, and Spanish language immersion DVD’s for children.  It’s taught by none other than Little Pim, the PANDA!  Interestingly, this series of DVD’s was developed by the daughter of Paul Pimsleur (the famous applied linguist which the Pimsleur series of learning cd’s was named after).
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Mandy and Pandy: Chinese learning books
	Mandy and Pandy are a series of Chinese learning books for kids which feature Mandy (a little girl) and her friend Pandy, which if you haven’t guess…is a PANDA!  Together through their adventures they learn Chinese.
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Early Start Mandarin:  Chinese learning books and DVD’s
	Eartly Start Mandarin is a series of books and videos for learning Mandarin featuring Bao Bei the PANDA.  I don’t mean any disrespect to the company or what they are doing, but of all the pandas feature, I find this one the most disturbing…Bao Bei scares me.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Pandamanda:  virtual language learning world
	I have to be honest, even I was not immune to the panda language teaching phenomenon.  A few years ago I entered a business plan competiton with a plan to create an online virtual language learning world for children called Pandamanda.   When I saw Panfu (above) it made me think of my own project.  However, in our world you were guided by Agent Pandamanda, a secret agent who was your partner as you solved various cases / mysteries out of the Pandamanda headquarters.  It was around the time where I had been watching a lot of the show 24 and was inspired (so in my case Agent Pandamanda was to be like Agent Jack Baur, minus all the violence of course…).  We never built the world, but we did for ask $4 million dollars to do so.  For some reason no one gave us the money

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