Haukebo on a worldwide stage

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Forty-seven years have past since Underwood native and current Pelican Rapids area resident Gerry Haukebo started the Concordia Language Villages. Now retired, the 79-year-old Haukebo still has a desire to be a part of international culture.

His latest venture is a Chinese/American joke book he authored with narration for an enclosed CD (with each text) from Nadine and David Brown of Pelican Rapids.

“The Chinese are anxious to learn the English language,” Haukebo said, “and the joke book is something unique that will help in this endeavor.”

Steve Andrews brought several copies of the book back from his recent

trip to China. His wife, Menghui Yan, edited the book and arranged for

the printing through her employer, Shandong Publishing Group of Jinan,

China. This project was one of her last ones with her employer.

The book, “Classic American Jokes,” is written in both Chinese and English.

The preface is written by Dr. Wang Xiuwen, a professor at Penn State University who helped Haukebo establish 12 different language villages in China, when Haukebo headed the Concordia Language Villages.

“Language is the tool we use to communicate with each other,” Xiuwen said. “Learning a new language is not easy. It is a hard task. Helping language learning to be fun is the purpose of the combination booklet and recording.”

Haukebo finished out his career at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, as vice president of international programs development.

“Dr. Xiuwen was a great help to us in developing the language exchange,” Haukebo said.

Christine Schulze, a Fergus Falls native, now is CEO of the Concordia Language Villages. She has served as the executive director since 1989.

“Dr. Haukebo conceived what’s now the gold-standard for language education in the United States,” Schulze said. “As the Berlin Wall was being built in 1961, Dr. Haukebo was audacious enough to imagine a world where adults of different nationalities could join into a thoughtful, respectful conversation as easily as children from different countries join into a game on a playground.”

The Concordia Language Villages goal — to prepare learners of all ages for responsible citizenship in our global community — is as essential now as it was in 1961 when Haukebo founded the program.