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GRAND FORKS SCHOOL BOARD: Norwegian Yes, Chinese No: Awano Student Exchange to Go Every Other Year

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 09:01 CST

By Paulette Tobin, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Feb. 14--It was Norwegian yes, Chinese no, to the teaching of foreign languages in the Grand Forks Public Schools at a School Board meeting Monday night.

State officials said a woman who had been suggested as a possible Chinese teacher was not qualified to teach here.

Grand Forks School District officials checked with the state of North Dakota about having Kathleen Peng teach Chinese in the public schools, both because board member C.T. Marhula had inquired about it, and at Peng's request.

Although Peng is native Chinese and has a major in mathematics education from Liaoning Normal University in China, that does not qualify her to teach Chinese in North Dakota.

North Dakota law has been reinforced by the federal No Child Left Behind Law, said a letter from Janet Welk of the North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board, and in order to teach Chinese in any high school, the instructor would need a major in Chinese.

Peng currently teaches in the recently established private Grand Forks Chinese School.

The Grand Forks schools may, however, be offering a Norwegian language class by the fall of 2007. Central German teacher Lonny Brakel expects to be certified in Norwegian by late 2006, said Ron Gruwell, assistant superintendent for secondary education.

Offering a Norwegian language course would fit well with a school partnership that is developing between Grand Forks and Sarpsborg, a city of about 50,000 in southern Norway that became a sister city to Grand Forks last October.

Monday night the School Board approved a trip to Sarpsborg in May for a district administrator, a high school administrator, one teacher and Tori Johnson, a special education coordinator for the School District who also has been coordinating the Sarpsborg/Grand Forks Schools Initiative.

The trip is expected to cost $5,000 to $6,000 and should pave the way for future student exchanges between the two cities.

It also was announced at Monday night's meeting that future student exchanges between Grand Forks and its other sister city, Awano, Japan, will soon go from annual events to every other year. That's because Awano city and school district have been annexed by nearby Kanuma, which already had an Australian student exchange.

The new School District decided it could not afford to do both exchanges every year. Awano/Kanuma officials have said in the future they would like to alternate the student exchange, one year with Grand Forks, the next year with Australia.

Tobin reports on education, teen news and special events. Reach her at (701) 780-1134; (800) 477-6572, ext. 134; or ptobin@gfherald.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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Source: Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

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