Chinese immersion program proves to be a hit with children, parents

ROCKVILLE, Md.—Singing “Happy Birthday” to Doug Kanovsky, the first-graders at his bowling alley bash turned the heads of nearly everyone who could hear them above the clamor of tumbling pins.

The tune was familiar but the words were, well, in Chinese.

“It was a bit of a shocker for Bowl America,” recalled Doug’s mother, Ellen Teller.

Breaking out in Chinese is not uncommon for this particular group of students; at school, it’s required. The 24 first-graders, along with 24 kindergarteners, are learning Chinese through the language immersion program at Potomac Elementary School. The program, which started last fall, is one of two in the nation that teaches Chinese and the only one using the Mandarin dialect rather than the less prevalent Cantonese.

Students in the program spend 70 percent of the day with their primary teacher, who speaks to them only in Chinese. The rest of the time is spent with a second teacher who focuses solely on English skills.

Rebecca Kwan, the primary teacher, said she relies heavily on repetition, visual props and body language. She also calls on students more frequently than in a regular classroom to make sure everyone is following along.

“I end up repeating myself a lot,” she said. “But if they can get even half of what I’m saying, they’re practically there.”

Parents have responded well to the program, although several initially raised concerns over whether their children were on par with others their age, who don’t have to decipher a foreign language at the same time they’re learning to add and subtract.

School administrators said students are evaluated regularly. They point to numerous studies indicating bilingual students have better problem-solving skills than peers who speak only one language.

Overall, most parents feel the program challenges their children far more than a regular classroom would. It also gives students an opportunity to develop a skill that could improve their future job prospects, particularly as China increasing becomes an world economic and political power.

As Teller put it, “We cannot blow off the billion people who speak this language.”

College students certainly aren’t. Enrollment in Chinese language courses is growing faster than any other language, according to the National Foreign Language Center in Washington. Over a five-year span ending in 1995, college enrollment in Chinese jumped 35.8 percent to 26,471 students.

Despite the growing interest, Chinese still hasn’t found its niche in primary education. Gathering appropriate teaching materials has been difficult, said Kwan. She often tapes Chinese words over the English ones in storybooks and spends much of her preparation time doing similar translations on work sheets and posters that go up in the classroom.

Parents find it frustrating trying to help their children with homework, since most can’t recognize Chinese characters as easily as letters and words in foreign languages like Spanish or French. Although many attend a weekly Chinese class designed specifically for parents, the class is no match for children who are absorbing the language at a faster pace.

“I knew there was no way I could surpass Doug, but at least I now understand a few words and some of the inflection patterns,” Teller said.

A $ 270,000 federal grant has helped Potomac with start-up costs and materials. Next fall, Potomac will accept a new class of kindergarten students and will add a second-grade class for Doug and his classmates.

“Most of the kids in this program have a sense they’re doing something different, something the average child is not learning,” Teller said. “My son realizes his class is different but he doesn’t know it any other way. He’s got a teacher who speaks to him in Chinese. This is school as he knows it.”



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