Israel: It's all Chinese to kids today

[Francis Hult]

HAARETZ.com

 

It's all Chinese to kids today

 

When the bell rang and the lesson in Chinese at the Hillel School in Ramat Gan ended, not one of the pupils collected their things and rushed to leave the room, as would be expected. The seven children in the class opted instead to remain and sing a Chinese love song for a visitor. Then the six boys formed a circle around the one girl in the classroom and began to serenade. 

This is the second year that the children in the seventh-grade gifted class have been learning to speak Chinese. Unlike most Western languages, Chinese is a tonal language. "The different tones change the significance of the word," explains Amit Nelkin, one of the students. "It's quite confusing and you have to make sure to express the words properly, much more than in other languages." 

 

Full story:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125541.html

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