by Martin Siegel
IT'S NOT OFTEN that you hear a class joyfully singing Frère Jacques in Chinese, but that’s just one of the surprises in the ChinaLink program at St. Jude Elementary School in Elyria, Ohio.
The day we visited, Hui-Ying Lee, who teaches the classes, was reviewing the Chinese Zodiac, which in order consists of the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. One-by-one, using body language and no speech, each student came to the front of the room and mimicked the physical actions of one of the zodiac animals by wiggling around on the floor, hopping about, waving arms and similar gestures. The students watching had to correctly identify which one in Chinese, amid gales of laughter. Talk about students acting out….
Hui-Ying also had dolls and puppets, which she tossed to students who had to give the correct answers literally on the fly. The kids have to get it right and get it right fast! (About 85 to 90 percent of class time is spent speaking Chinese.)
Joy in translation
Learning Chinese in this atmosphere is great fun. Mrs. Lee teaches in intervals of roughly ten-minute blocks of time, making an art of the question-answer technique. Sentences such as ‘What color do you like?’ ‘How old are you?’ and ‘Who am I?’ are posed. Students phonetically repeat the questions and then give answers in Chinese. They are then paired off to work with each other. Practicing this sequence three times a period builds a feeling of class unity that is almost tangible. Hands are raised all the time for answers and when they’re paired off, students practice Chinese as
if at play!
It’s not just the language, for Hui-Ying tells students about Chinese culture and customs: the Great Wall, ancient dynasties, the abacus, Chinese music and more.
The success of PSI’s ChinaLink has caught the attention of the local media. Several newspapers have provided publicity about this exciting program. PBS’s NewsDepth gave television coverage to the ChinaLink program (access it on PSI’s homepage, psi-solutions.org).
The ChinaLink Advantage
The potential rewards for these students are enormous. China has become a dominant player in the global economy. In the years to come, ties between our countries will only increase; not just in trade, but educational exchanges, real-time communication via the Internet, the arts, the sciences, virtually everything. The world of our students today will be vastly different from the world of tomorrow.
The teacher...and it's not just Chinese
Hui-Ying Lee enjoys teaching Chinese. Like all Chinese children, she learned English in school in Taiwan. With China’s position in the world, she feels it is essential to learn the language and China’s customs. ‘Communication is one of the most important goals I teach.’
ChinaLink is part of a growing program at PSI called
LanguageCultureConnection which offers programs
in Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and Russian. Contact Karen McKelvey at ext. 230, who will design either a full-time or
a component module program for your school (e.g. nine weeks, professional development, assemblies/class
presentations). PSI’s Connections can help your school stand apart, maintaining the interest of current families while attracting new ones looking for an exciting, cutting edge curriculum.
The Principal of St. Jude Elementary School, Rozann Swanson, can be reached at rozannswan@hotmail.com. Martin Siegel is a graphic design and editing consultant at PSI. Contact him at info@psi-solutions.org.