A Chinese teacher’s trip to America
As China’s economy continues to grow and its strength as a major player on the world stage increases, more and more countries around the world have devoted themselves to teaching the Chinese language to their younger generations. . After all, Mandarin is the second most widely spoken language after English, which also has several sub-dialects to add more confusion to non-Chinese native speakers. It’s a difficult mix of tones and thousands of characters that it would take an adult to master the basics, so introducing this unique language to young children could help speed up the process and make learning easier if they choose to do so. pick it up later in life.
An opportunity of a lifetime
Jieyi Lu, an English teacher from southern China, has been teaching young children for the past 11 years, but this year, to her surprise, she was accepted into a program that sends native Chinese teachers to America to teaching Mandarin to high school kids. Now he faces the challenge of teaching his mother tongue to young children, many of whom have never set foot in China and may never have heard it spoken or seen the characters in their lives. He is enjoying his time here so far and has noticed many differences between public school in China and Chaplin Regional Middle/High School, Parish Hill, in America. First, Miss Lu commented on the size of the classes she had to teach; in China he prepared classes for classes with 50-60 students attending, where as in America he averaged between 5-8 students per class.
New skills for the future
The director in charge of this cultural exchange program at Chaplin School, Dori Smith, understands that the Chinese language is quickly becoming a popular and widely spoken language and realizes the benefits students will get from being exposed to it. to Chinese culture at such a young age. With China’s massive economic growth and large population, it is almost inevitable that this generation of students will have some dealings with this country and its people in the future. Miss Lu sees this opportunity as a great step in her career and is grateful for this opportunity to live and work in America. So far the school has paid for the expenses of her first few months of life, because she was not yet earning a salary, Ms. Lu has also received help to find a car and open a bank account. Compared to her busy teaching schedule in China, Ms. Lu will take 1 year-round junior high school class and 3 separate high school classes in separate blocks. He has also started an after-school class which seems to be quite popular with many of the students. The main goal is not only to teach basic spoken vocabulary and written characters, but more importantly, to introduce children to this totally different culture that few other American school children will have the opportunity to experience at any level Today, our adult generations who go to China to set up business or make connections with potential companies are unprepared and may never have ventured beyond the borders of their city or state. Without a basic understanding of Chinese etiquette or culture, acting a certain way could be seen as bad behavior or a sign of disrespect and lose you a deal before it’s even started. There are online services, Chinese Translation Pro that help foreigners settle in a country, but being able to speak the language and know the culture would give the visitor a leg up.
Student reactions to Chinese
So far, Ms. Lu’s class has been a success, with many participants enrolled in the after-school class; Lu likes the fact that the classes are smaller, which means she has more time to spend with all the students. When asked what they thought of Mandarin, one student commented that it is more difficult than Spanish, but they are having a lot of fun trying something completely new and non-American.
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