Lisa Urbonya: The Chinese within
de-pressurized learning environment that mimics the way young children learn their first
language.”
Urbonya’s perspective comes from firsthand experience.
“My children were growing up in China, so I was learning all the children’s words as I
went along,” she says. “I learned it as a child, because I was with my children.”
Teaching Chinese, however, is just a small portion of what Urbonya does at Action
Language Learning. Action Language Learning provides customized training, seminars,
consulting, and courses to help organizations and schools develop their own language
programs. Urbonya, a former bilingual specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction with a master’s degree in speech and language, has consulted with a number of
organizations and companies. She is currently working with the Ho-Chunk nation on their
Language Revitalization and Revival Project and this summer will help the immersion-
based Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy develop curriculum.
In Madison, she holds frequent seminars, including a recent presentation at the
International Education and Social Studies Conference for higher education and K-12
administrators. Urbonya touched on what American educators can learn from the Chinese
educational system. According to Asia Society, China runs the largest educational system in
the world, serving 20 percent of the world’s students with only two percent of the world’s
educational resources.
“So many things that are done in the Chinese system would improve the American
system,” Urbonya contends.
Urbonya points out a number of ways in which China’s educational system is superior to
that of the U.S. According to Urbonya, the Chinese school system is much more
academically focused, effort vs. ability focused, and parents are much more rigorous in
their expectations of their school-aged children. She also lauds their approach to second
language teaching.
“China is teaching a second language as early kindergarten and first grade,” she says.
She does admit that both the American and Chinese school systems could learn from each
other, saying they would both benefit by meeting in the middle.
Urbonya offers a number of other courses and seminars including classes for educators
like Chinese Language and Cultural Activities for the classroom, Chinese Language for
Educators, and Differentiation of Instruction for World Language or ELL Instructors.
In the end, it is Action Language Learning’s mission “to assist organizations and
schools, educators and individuals, in the acquisition of world languages.” It is the
organization’s belief that “learners of all ages can master languages most efficiently
through active methods, dynamic learning environments and stimulating materials that
emphasize a multi-sensory approach and utilize all of the intelligences.”
language.”
Urbonya’s perspective comes from firsthand experience.
“My children were growing up in China, so I was learning all the children’s words as I
went along,” she says. “I learned it as a child, because I was with my children.”
Teaching Chinese, however, is just a small portion of what Urbonya does at Action
Language Learning. Action Language Learning provides customized training, seminars,
consulting, and courses to help organizations and schools develop their own language
programs. Urbonya, a former bilingual specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction with a master’s degree in speech and language, has consulted with a number of
organizations and companies. She is currently working with the Ho-Chunk nation on their
Language Revitalization and Revival Project and this summer will help the immersion-
based Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy develop curriculum.
In Madison, she holds frequent seminars, including a recent presentation at the
International Education and Social Studies Conference for higher education and K-12
administrators. Urbonya touched on what American educators can learn from the Chinese
educational system. According to Asia Society, China runs the largest educational system in
the world, serving 20 percent of the world’s students with only two percent of the world’s
educational resources.
“So many things that are done in the Chinese system would improve the American
system,” Urbonya contends.
Urbonya points out a number of ways in which China’s educational system is superior to
that of the U.S. According to Urbonya, the Chinese school system is much more
academically focused, effort vs. ability focused, and parents are much more rigorous in
their expectations of their school-aged children. She also lauds their approach to second
language teaching.
“China is teaching a second language as early kindergarten and first grade,” she says.
She does admit that both the American and Chinese school systems could learn from each
other, saying they would both benefit by meeting in the middle.
Urbonya offers a number of other courses and seminars including classes for educators
like Chinese Language and Cultural Activities for the classroom, Chinese Language for
Educators, and Differentiation of Instruction for World Language or ELL Instructors.
In the end, it is Action Language Learning’s mission “to assist organizations and
schools, educators and individuals, in the acquisition of world languages.” It is the
organization’s belief that “learners of all ages can master languages most efficiently
through active methods, dynamic learning environments and stimulating materials that
emphasize a multi-sensory approach and utilize all of the intelligences.”
Lisa Urbonya (l) heads up Action
Language Learning that specializes in
immersion techniques and authentic
learning experiences from China.
Language Learning that specializes in
immersion techniques and authentic
learning experiences from China.
By Laura Salinger
When Lisa Li Urbonya moved to China, she knew little of the language. Today, she is not only fluent in
Mandarin Chinese but a teacher of this often-misunderstood language. Misunderstood, Urbonya contends,
because of the assumption that Chinese (Mandarin) is a hard language to learn. She disagrees. Now the
president of Action Language Learning, Urbonya uses approaches to language teaching that mirror her own
learning experiences. Namely, Urbonya incorporates immersion techniques and “authentic” learning
experiences that mirror her children’s language learning and classroom experiences in China.
“I lived in China for 12 years,” Urbonya says. “I did teach English, but when I wasn’t teaching I was totally
in immersion. What I wanted to do was take that kind of learning and bring it to the classroom. One way to
teach is through shock, so I try to bring some surprises, so that it sticks in people’s memory bank. I try to
capture experiences from the outside and bring them to the classroom.”
While immersion techniques have been lauded as one of the most productive ways to learn a language,
Urbonya also incorporates other unique techniques in her teaching methods. Essentially, she encourages
adult learners to become children again while using what she calls multi-sensory, musical teaching methods.
“It is one thing to ask a group of children to jump around the room, making pointy ears next to the sides of
their heads while singing a silly limerick about a rabbit,” Urbonya says. “But what to make of a room full of
adults with advanced degrees and successful professional careers doing the same thing? Active, multi-
sensory musical teaching methods are known to be effective in teaching second languages to children but
what I have learned is that they are surprisingly even more successful with adults. Why is that? I believe
there is a deep-seated need for adult language learners to spend time immersed in a structured but
When Lisa Li Urbonya moved to China, she knew little of the language. Today, she is not only fluent in
Mandarin Chinese but a teacher of this often-misunderstood language. Misunderstood, Urbonya contends,
because of the assumption that Chinese (Mandarin) is a hard language to learn. She disagrees. Now the
president of Action Language Learning, Urbonya uses approaches to language teaching that mirror her own
learning experiences. Namely, Urbonya incorporates immersion techniques and “authentic” learning
experiences that mirror her children’s language learning and classroom experiences in China.
“I lived in China for 12 years,” Urbonya says. “I did teach English, but when I wasn’t teaching I was totally
in immersion. What I wanted to do was take that kind of learning and bring it to the classroom. One way to
teach is through shock, so I try to bring some surprises, so that it sticks in people’s memory bank. I try to
capture experiences from the outside and bring them to the classroom.”
While immersion techniques have been lauded as one of the most productive ways to learn a language,
Urbonya also incorporates other unique techniques in her teaching methods. Essentially, she encourages
adult learners to become children again while using what she calls multi-sensory, musical teaching methods.
“It is one thing to ask a group of children to jump around the room, making pointy ears next to the sides of
their heads while singing a silly limerick about a rabbit,” Urbonya says. “But what to make of a room full of
adults with advanced degrees and successful professional careers doing the same thing? Active, multi-
sensory musical teaching methods are known to be effective in teaching second languages to children but
what I have learned is that they are surprisingly even more successful with adults. Why is that? I believe
there is a deep-seated need for adult language learners to spend time immersed in a structured but
