By Katie Hyde
Principal for academic affairs Barbara McCormick recently traveled to China to visit schools and learn more about Chinese language, culture, and history.
Along with 400 other delegates selected from 700 applicants by the College Board in conjunction with the Hanban Confucius Institute, McCormick met with Chinese educators and observed classrooms in a group of 35 educators and administrators from the United States.
She left November 4 and will returned Nov. 11.
After STA began its own Mandarin foreign language program this year, McCormick was looking for an exchange or awareness opportunity when she read about the program on a Collegeboard newsletter.
As she travels to both Beijing and Tianjin, McCormick hopes to bring back lessons from the classrooms she visits to improve STA’s program.
“What really helps a student learn the language?” McCormick said. “They have to learn so many characters; what does that look like? What resources are readily available to them that may be available for us?”
McCormick also hopes to establish a sister school with an institution in China.
“It’s a great opportunity for an exchange. I can see students here writing in Chinese to students there who are learning English, and they’re writing to us,” McCormick said. “We’re both practicing a second language, and we’re bridging the two countries.”
Senior KaiLi McCamman is one of five Mandarin students this year, and hopes, like McCormick, that STA’s program will grow over the next few years.
“We only have five people in our class right now, and that’s pretty sad compared to the typical class at STA,” McCamman said. “The Chinese are probably going to take over in the next 20 years, so we need to start learning the language.”
Although McCormick’s travels will focus on improving STA’s Mandarin program, she is also excited to learn more about the Chinese culture. Among a itinerary full of school visits and seminars, she will travel to the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City.
“I am just eager to be immersed into another culture,” McCormick said. “It’s just being there and being open to their customs and learning about how they educate their students.”
In addition to researching a few important customs, like the use of chopsticks, the exchange of small gifts and the importance of business cards, McCormick hopes to increase awareness of the importance of understanding other cultures.
“I think [the trip] is to create an awareness that English isn’t the only language, McCormick said. “And I think many of us are now seeing that we will need to be bilingual because of the melting pot that we have.”
