By Kurt Hamm

What teacher would not like to hear a student say “Even though Chinese was hard, my teacher made it interesting – so interesting that I studied with passion. If it wasn’t for my Chinese teacher I would never have made it this far.”?

If your students took a tour of Beijing and returned to tell the class about it, what do you think they would talk about the most? Would it be the Great Wall and the countless museums, temples and shops that the average tour guide takes everyone to, or would it be that great evening when they got lost in a 胡同 and ended up having a great conversation with a guy everyone called 老板 in a little restaurant that had a seating capacity of about 25 people?

It is time to get your students off the tour bus and into that restaurant (without ever leaving the classroom). Reading will accomplish this. People who can’t read are limited in several ways. When people meet socially the conversations are usually about hobbies, interests and current events. That sort of communication is fun but it isn’t a great way to expand a student’s vocabulary. Words that don’t occur in common conversation far outnumber the word list of “daily activities” lessons.

I propose two kinds of reading to get students excited about taking their Chinese to a new level. First, reading story books enhances fluency, increases vocabulary and helps students develop a sense of the culture. Second, create a real cultural element in your class by using internet articles and blogs. Reading will make the language relevant to students’ lives and create enthusiasm for advancing their language level.

Please read more at The Mandarin Center here.

First-grader Keirstan Knutson, 6, a student at Gateway Elementary, uses an interactive smart board to show a math equation she hears in Chinese. DARIN OSWALD / IDAHO STATESMAN

• Story Photos
• 

• THROUGH AN INTERNATIONAL LENS

  Immersion, or dual-language, programs are increasing nationwide to help students learn through an international lens and become culturally proficient in our emerging global economy.

  Thirty years ago, the U.S. had fewer than two dozen language immersion programs. Today there are almost 450, said a 2011 report from the Center for Applied Linguistics, a nonprofit organization that advocates for foreign language instruction.

  Spanish and French are the most popular, 45 percent and 22 percent respectively, of the nation’s immersion programs. Mandarin Chinese is the third-most popular at 13 percent, followed by Hawaiian (6 percent), Japanese (5 percent) and German (3 percent).

  Want to go to Gateway?

  The school holds a lottery each year for available spots in its Mandarin Chinese immersion program.

  Applications, available on the Meridian school district website, are due by Feb. 29. Applicants will be notified of the lottery results by the first week of April. For more information, call the school at 855-4475.

  There are no additional costs to attend Gateway, except for the all-day kindergarten program, which costs $250 per month.