The STA language department will offer a Mandarin Chinese class only for juniors and seniors beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. According to principal for academic affairs Barbara McCormick, the graduating class of 2015 will be required to take three years of a foreign language, and Mandarin will provide another option for students wishing to take a different language their junior or senior year.
“When you look at what countries are aspiring in today’s society, China’s one of them, especially as it’s an economic powerhouse,” McCormick said. “I see students broadening their understanding of languages and cultures internationally.”
Mandarin is a combination of northern Chinese dialects and has more native speakers than any other language in the world. According to world language department chair Alice Amick, the Mandarin course will be taught differently than other languages because of the importance that culture and history have. But the class will follow the same basic ‘four skills approach’ as the other language courses: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Mandarin Chinese does not use the same alphabet as other European languages, but instead uses visual characters, each of which can have several meanings. According to Amick, the class will only be offered to juniors and seniors because of the difficulty of the language.
“It will be a very different style of language,” Amick said. “I think that’s why it’s being focused at this point on the mature language learners–people who really know how to study and prepare for language, because it will definitely be a challenge.”
Ms. Valda Hsu, who also teaches at Longview Community College and the Kansas City Art Institute, will teach the course, and she believes that the importance of understanding the Chinese language and culture is growing. Hsu hopes to include the study of Chinese culture and history in addition to studying the language.
“By learning [Mandarin Chinese], we not only can learn from [the Chinese] but they can learn from the students here,” Hsu said. “What I see this as is that there is a great door of opportunity, and learning Chinese is like giving them a key, so they can open the door with it. Then you can step into that, and see what you can do with it.”
Amick believes that the Mandarin course will provide STA with a new international perspective.
“I think the biggest difference that I see is that it would represent an eastern civilization perspective, because the languages that we have represent western civilization,” Amick said. “China is an ancient civilization, but it is also in the forefront of what’s happening in the world now.”
Heather Cigas • May 12, 2011 at 12:21 pm
I agree. They should offer it freshman year. I’ve been taking it since Kindergarden and it’s a hard language to learn so I’m excited to see how well people catch on!!
Isabella Nair • May 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
This sounds like a really great opportunity for the students of STA. I agree with the comment above, that students should be able to enroll in the class freshman year. I look forward to seeing how this new program will develop at STA.
Jessica Ann • Mar 31, 2011 at 8:57 pm
This is so awesome. I’ve started taking Chinese in college and it’s been a struggle, but I definitely think it’s worth it. But I don’t see why they aren’t giving students the opportunity to start as freshman next year for those who are starting their language track. Since many seniors and juniors are already in a language track, it doesn’t make sense to only give them an opportunity when they’re already limited with their schedules. Many of the students in my class had already taken Chinese for 4 years, and the material that we’re learning now is already beyond everything they’ve learned. Retrospectively, 4 years of Chinese in high school would still have been so helpful. This is a really great step though. Way to go!