Students Learning Mandarin Chinese ; 16 Tipp High School Students and 60 Middle-Schoolers Are Taking the Language and Culture Course.
By Nancy Bowman Staff Writer
TIPP CITY — Alyssa Morland already had studied Spanish, French and sign language, so when a Mandarin Chinese course was added at Tippecanoe High School, she was more than eager to get on the class roster.
“I thought Chinese would be something else I’d like to learn,” said Morland, a junior who is putting her new language skills to work teaching Chinese to fourth- and fifthgraders in a five-week afterschool program.
She is among around 680 Ohio high school students studying Mandarin Chinese in 15 districts this year. The number is almost a 50 percent increase in students from the 2005-06 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
Four visiting Chinese teachers are working in Ohio schools, including Zhang Jun in Tipp City, under an ODE pilot program. She teaches language classes for students in the middle and high schools and conducts cultural programs for younger students.
Karla Carruthers of the ODE said interest in the language continues to grow in Ohio schools. For next year, five more districts have formally requested a visiting teacher and leaders in 17 other districts have indicated they have secured or are in the process of securing local approval to offer Chinese in the 2007-08 school year.
In December, she said, 250 representatives from more than 100 districts and schools attended a joint ODE-Ohio State University symposium on “Making the Global Connection Linking Students and China in the 21st Century.”
In Tipp City, about 60 middle school students have taken or are taking the Chinese class this year. This class is a combination of language and culture. At the high school, about 16 students are in the classes.
Tiffany Tebbe, another Tippecanoe junior, said she is considering a career as an interpreter or in early childhood education. Whatever she chooses, Tebbe, who also has studied Spanish, said she thinks the Chinese lessons will be beneficial.
Fellow student Kirsten Linsenmeyer, who has her eye on a career in the medical field, said she was interested in studying an Asian language, and the course at Tippecanoe steered her toward Chinese.
Wendy Wen, a native of China and a Tippecanoe freshman, is helping teach the younger students. She gave her fellow student teachers good marks on their growing language skills.
While the others are focusing on Chinese this year, Wen is a student in the school’s Spanish classes.
Contact this reporter at (937) 335-4357 or nbowman@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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