Arizona: Mandarin in demand

[Ann Kelleher]

There is a glaring error of fact in this piece. My reply to the author:
______________________
Jeff,

Interesting confusion in your article -- near the end you state:

"For comparison, consider that British public schools now require
all students to study Mandarin."

Not sure where you picked this up, but Mandarin is only mandatory at a 
few (perhaps as few as 2) exclusive private schools (yes, called "public" 
in Britain), but I'm afraid you lead readers to believe that the British 
government has a policy of Mandarin-for-all in its school systems, and 
that certainly is not the case. 

Ann Kelleher

 
 
> >From the ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Published: 07.09.2006
> 
> Mandarin in demand at local schools
> By Jeff Commings
> 
> Ni hao.  Don't know what that means? By this time next year, a few
> hundred
> Tucson students and hundreds of thousands more nationwide might, as
> Mandarin Chinese makes a major entrance into the nation's schools,
> including four in Tucson.  Quicker than you can say the above greeting
> "hello," in the language spoken by more than a billion people worldwide
> Mandarin Chinese has bumped some popular Romance languages off the cool
> kids' table in the lunchroom.  Three schools in Tucson Unified School
> District Palo Verde High Magnet School, University High School and 
Rincon
> High School are prepping for their first year teaching the major Chinese
> language. And students in seventh through ninth grades at BASIS charter
> school in Tucson will learn the language. Also, the College Board just
> added Mandarin as one of its four new foreign-language Advanced 
Placement
> tests.
> 
> "It's the fastest-growing language right now," said Carolyn McGarvey,
> director of BASIS Tucson, 3825 E. Second St. "I was just at an education
> conference, and Mandarin was all they were talking about."  TUSD
> officials
> talked to the high school principals in the district, trying to gauge 
the
> interest in adding the class.  "We thought we were going to have to 
twist
> some arms," said Kelly Langford, the district's senior academic officer.
> "But every principal said they wanted it. They realized this is a
> language
> our kids need to learn."  Langford said the world is getting smaller, 
and
> as such, it's hard for students to find well-paying careers today that
> don't require some type of foreign-language knowledge. He said most
> business people travel to China, the world's most populous country,
> without knowing a word of Mandarin, while most Chinese have a decent
> grasp
> of the English language.
> 
> "We have it backwards here," he said.  Mandarin is the most-spoken
> language worldwide, followed far behind by English, Hindu and Spanish.
> Some say students can learn to speak the language quickly. But with 
about
> 80,000 characters that do not translate well into English and vice 
versa,
> educators say American students might not be able to grasp many more 
than
> 250 of them.  "After two years, the goal is to be able to order food at 
a
> Chinese restaurant," said Maria Hooker, TUSD's director of Pan-Asian
> studies.  About 100 students at the three TUSD schools have signed up so
> far to study Mandarin, but that number could increase when students
> register for school next month, Hooker said.  Leilani Henry, an incoming
> senior at Catalina Foothills High School, said a Mandarin Chinese class
> would be popular at her school, where only French and Spanish are
> available. She said she'd take the class because she's half-Chinese and
> doesn't know how to speak the language.
> 
> "My grandmother can speak it, but she speaks really fast," said Henry,
> 17.
> "I can't catch a single thing."  But for all the apparent student
> interest, one major obstacle is finding qualified teachers. Langford 
said
> TUSD is having trouble finding a candidate certified to teach the
> language, a requirement of No Child Left Behind.  In a couple of years,
> it's expected that some of the students, especially those at
> high-achieving University High, will be ready to take the Advanced
> Placement class, which will be equal to a second-year course in a
> four-year university.  At BASIS, some students start preparing for AP
> classes in seventh or eighth grade, and are required to take at least 
one
> in high school. Almost 90 percent of them earn college credit.  So far,
> 2,396 of the 14,000 high schools nationwide that have at least one AP
> course have expressed interest in the Mandarin class. The three other 
new
> foreign languages to be introduced soon Italian, Japanese and Russian
> each
> have fewer than 300 schools interested.
> 
> "We expected 300 schools (to ask for Mandarin)," said Tom Matts, 
director
> of the College Board's world language initiative.  Though these are the
> first public schools in Tucson to offer Mandarin instruction, the idea 
is
> not new to Arizona.  The Tucson Chinese School teaches Mandarin to
> children as young as 4, and many adults can be found learning the
> language
> at various sites in town.  The International School of Tucson, a private
> school at 1730 N. First Ave., finished its first year with preschoolers
> learning Mandarin basics from a Chinese emigrant.  The BASIS school in
> Scottsdale has taught Mandarin to middle school students for two years,
> and so far, one-third of the students there are enrolled.  TUSD's
> Langford
> said the district's and the community's support of adding Mandarin means
> a
> policy requiring foreign-language instruction is not far away.
> 
>  "Every kid who wants to go to a Tier 1 university will need to take a
> foreign language," he said. "Our vision is that every kid will be
> prepared
> to go to a major university."  Only Catalina Foothills and Flowing Wells
> require at least one year of foreign-language instruction in high
> schools.
> In Sunnyside, that requirement will start in the fall for the Class of
> 2008.  For comparison, consider that British public schools now require
> all students to study Mandarin.  But small steps could make a huge
> difference, educators say.  "It is an interesting intellectual 
exercise,"
> Block said. "We hope to have more schools join us in teaching Chinese
> because if you're doing business around the world, you can get away with
> English anywhere, except Asia."
> 
> jcommings at azstarnet.com.
> 
> 
>   http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/137139
>