Chinese And Non-Western Languages "Critical" For Competitive Students

The Boston Globe:

Mandarin teacher Li Wang sat in a chair small enough for a 4-year-old, her enthusiastic students sitting on the classroom carpet in a separate square. She placed a picture of a chicken on the board, pointed, and asked:

In unison, the prekindergarten class answered: "Ji!'' (Chicken!)

Such classes have usually been taught in suburban classrooms and prep schools. But this is no suburb: It's a Hyde Park charter school, where most students are black or Latino, and many from low-income homes. They have yet to perfect English, let alone Chinese.

Chinese is becoming increasingly popular in the nation's urban schools, where educators hope the language will instill a global perspective in children whose life experiences often don't extend beyond their city's borders. And in many urban schools, students already speak languages at home that are traditionally the content of foreign-language programs.

Read the whole story: The Boston Globe

Comments

[Ann Delacy]

10:10 PM on 07/05/2011

My guess is that now that we have shipped all of the U.S. jobs to China we are now preparing our children to take the jobs in China that Chinese people won't want to do.

[Tuigim]

07:23 PM on 07/05/2011

Foolish.
For children go with English and Spanish for basic communication,
then a native American language (for love of this country),
then Korean or Japanese or any other easier non-Western languages than Chinese
if they are interested or have a cultural connection.
Why are we raising up China as something to emulate?
Its human rights record is appalling.
The language is really tough and
REALLY, if you're in the U.S. English and Spanish are the most widely spoken.
Add Portuguese and you have covered all of the Americas.
That's a lot of ground, seriously - look at a a map.
Is it racism that stops us from getting to know our neighbors?
Silly bandwagon causing heartache for kids.
The Chinese already know more of English than they will ever learn of Chinese.
A reality check please, people - for your kids' sake.

[raechel]

12:33 PM on 07/05/2011

It seems odd to me that we feel the need to justify learning a foreign language by saying it helps children understand other cultures. It does, but China will soon be among the (maybe the) most powerful nations of the world. That alone is reason to learn Mandarin. It's about time those of us in the U.S. joined the rest of the world in being able to converse in several languages.

[sawyer0413]

03:26 PM on 07/05/2011

Absolutely agree!