[EDLING:774] Chinese foreign language programs grow at schools

[Francis M Hult]

By way of the lgpolicy list...

> >From the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times
>
> While Spanish still reigns in U.S. schools, educators are beginning to
> prepare students to deal with an emerging world economic power.
> By Associated Press Published April 25, 2005
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> STUART - Red lanterns, delicate Chinese paper cuttings and poems about
> Beijing mountains adorn a small corner of a Stuart classroom that used to
> be dominated by Spanish decorations. A dozen eighth-graders file into the
> St. Michael's Independent School room, where they are greeted by teacher
> Liu Yanling, a Chengdu citizen who is dressed in a brilliant pink and gold
> Chinese dress known as qi pao. Liu's class studies these Chinese
> characters.
>
> "I want to give the kids an introduction to the language and the culture
> so at least they can continue on next year," the teacher said. For the
> next 40 minutes, Liu, known as Emily to her American colleagues, takes her
> students on an exotic journey through ancient empires, modern Chinese
> fashion and basic conversational Mandarin. And then the Spanish class
> comes in.
>
> Spanish remains, by far, the most prevalent foreign language class offered
> in Florida and the United States. But with China's emergence as an
> economic power, schools in Palm Beach County and elsewhere on Florida's
> south-central Atlantic coast are beginning to expose their students to the
> world's most widely spoken language. "We decided to offer Chinese because
> of what's happening with the Chinese economy and the world order," St.
> Michael's Headmaster Jim Cantwell said.
>
> "China is becoming the world's largest economy, and with one-quarter of
> the world's population, we want to prepare our 21st-century students to be
> conversant with this culture." The Stuart school began offering Chinese to
> seventh- and eighth-graders for the first time this year and is the only
> school in its area to do so, according to the Florida Foreign Language
> Association.
>
> In Palm Beach County, Watson B. Duncan Middle School and William T. Dwyer
> High School also began offering Chinese classes this year. They are the
> only two public schools in the state to offer Chinese classes, according
> to the state Department of Education. Other Palm Beach County students
> have access to a Chinese class on television.
>
> "Chinese is the language of the future, if not right now," Dwyer Assistant
> Principal Corrine Licata said. "Naturally, we want to get our kids ready
> for the international market." More people worldwide speak Mandarin
> Chinese, about 1.1-billion, as a primary language than any other language
> in the world, according to a study published in Language Today magazine.
> English, which has the second-highest total, has 330-million primary
> speakers.
>
> Although 150-million people speak English as a secondary language, just
> 20-million nonnative speakers understand Mandarin. U.S. schools are
> beginning to close that gap. Enrollment in Chinese classes at the K-12
> level in the United States grew 65 percent, from 14,490 to 23,850
> students, from 1997 to 2002, according to a Princeton University study.
>
> For perspective on how many students that is, consider the total
> enrollment in the Martin County School District is about 19,000 students,
> or that 5-million U.S. high school students were in Spanish classes in
> 2002. University of Hawaii Professor Cyndy Ning, executive director of the
> Chinese Language Teachers Association, said U.S. schools need to do a
> better job of preparing students for lives in the global village.
>
> "American students could use a lot more work getting ready for
> international interactions," Ning said. "Compared to other nations in the
> world, American schools do not spend as much of their resources getting to
> know other nations as other nations' schools spend getting to know
> America." In Liu's Chinese class at St. Michael's, eighth-graders are just
> trying to master the not-so-simple fundamentals of the peculiar new
> language.
>
> "Chinese phonetics are very difficult, and it can be really difficult for
> the kids to catch," Liu said. St. Michael's, Duncan Middle and Dwyer High
> officials all intend to continue offering Chinese lessons.
>
> At St. Michael's, middle students can continue their studies when their
> new high school opens in 2006. At Duncan Middle, students can continue
> their Chinese lessons when they feed into Dwyer High.
>
> Officials at St. Michael's and Dwyer say there are plans to start a high
> school student exchange program with Chinese schools.
>
> "I've had history and math classes for a long time, so this is a chance to
> try something new," St. Michael's eighth-grader Nick Denton said.
> "Learning how to pronounce all the different tones is a lot of fun."
>
>  Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved
> http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/25/news_pf/State/Chinese_foreign_langu.shtml