Paper Lantern Langauge & Cultural Center

Specialties

We provide Chinese classes and private lessons to kids and adults.

History

Established in 2010.

Paper Lantern was founded in 2010 by a group of Oak Park families with a commitment to providing fun, affordable Chinese language lessons for their children. As their dedication to learning Mandarin grew, classes for both kids and adults were created.

The Director of Paper Lantern, Jenny Chen, had been working privately with the founding families as well as other Oak Park families for years. As local interest in her engaging teaching style grew, it became clear that she needed a dedicated space. Students of Paper Lantern range from children of Chinese households and Chinese adoptees, to children and adults with a desire in achieving fluency in Mandarin.

Meet the Business Owner

Jenny C.

Business Owner

Jenny (Chen Lao shi) is a native Mandarin speaker who earned her undergraduate degrees in Business Administration in Missouri and Management Information System in Wisconsin. However, because of her continuous passion in working with second language learners since college and growing up in a bilingual environment, she later pursued a master’s degree in education with special focus in language studies. Over ten years of teaching experience, she has always enjoyed using various teaching methods and finding creative ways to work with children and adults at different language levels.

Chen Lao shi believes that learning Chinese should be fun — and this is evident in her unique and highly interactive teaching style. She uses songs, games, crafts and conversations relevant to her students’ daily lives to motivate and challenge her students to listen, read, speak and write Chinese.