When Carolyn Seaton looked at the language course offerings at competitive local middle schools and high schools, she noticed that Manhattan Beach Unified School District was missing something.
Twenty-one out of the 36 schools she surveyed offered an Asian language course – 17 of the schools taught Chinese.
“We didn’t have a single Asian language,” said Seaton, executive director of educational services for the district.
With the help of Manhattan Beach parents, Jenny Cohn and Ellen Chao, Manhattan Beach Middle School applied and was accepted for a grant and partnership with the Confucius Institute at San Diego State University to help bring Mandarin courses to the middle school.
Offering Mandarin is part of the district’s goals to incorporate global learning into the curriculum. “[Learning Mandarin] could really open some doors for them down the line,” Seaton said, discussing future career opportunities forManhattan Beach students.
The Mandarin course began this school year for seventh-graders – currently, 59 students are enrolled. The hope is, Seaton said, that as the students matriculate, the course will follow them through high school. For example, next year, the course will likely be offered in seventh and eighth grades; the following year, in seventh, eighth and ninth grades.
Offering the course in middle school allows the teachers to focus on grammatical structures, vocabulary, and cultural connections, Seaton said, giving the students a strong foundation of the language before continuing to high school. After two years studying Mandarin in middle school, the students could pursue the third level of the course in high school. Eventually, the district hopes to offer advanced placement Mandarin, which would give students the opportunity to receive college credit.
Shelly Liu was hired to teach the course after an interview with a panel of administrators and the middle school’s band and strings teacher, a fluent Mandarin speaker. Liu also was required to teach a 30-minute sample lesson to a group of students. “She was great about having a high level of active engagement,” Seaton said, adding, “Kids responded well to her.”
In fact, after the practice lecture, one student asked the principal, John Jackson, if she could switch her language course to Mandarin. “It was telling that she was so inspired by this 25- to 30-minute lesson that she wanted to change her language course,” Seaton said.
Born and raised in China, Liu graduated from Beijing Normal College of Foreign Languages in 1987. She and her husband immigrated to theUnited States the following year. She received her teaching credential from California State University, Northridge in Mandarin and mathematics. She taught Mandarin to kids on weekends for about 10 years.
Liu is thrilled to be in the classroom. “I didn’t realize how involved or engaged (the students) can be,” she said, adding, “They try to use the language whenever possible.” Liu’s students greet her in Mandarin upon arriving to and leaving class. After each class, they are able to add new vocabulary words when greeting her.
The Confucius Institute donated 25,000 yuan, the Chinese currency equivalent to about $4,000, for the school to purchase Mandarin textbooks.
Along with donating textbooks, DVDs, dictionaries and other classroom materials, the Confucius Institute flew in a graduate student from Beijing, Sabrina Geng, to assist Liu in the classroom. Geng arrived in Manhattan Beach a couple of weeks ago and will stay with host families throughout the year. “Having two adults in the room to help kids master tones and character formations, I think, will be so valuable,” Seaton said.
Two teachers in the classroom will also allow one to focus on students who learn at different paces – whether they are excelling or struggling.
The year long job has its perks for Geng, as well. “She’ll learn about American culture and South Bay beach culture,” Seaton said.
Geng was one of 1,000 Chinese students chosen to teach abroad – her colleagues were sent to teach throughout the United States, Africa,Cuba and elsewhere. Geng is studying teaching Chinese as a second language at Beijing Language and Culture University.
Geng is starting a Chinese club on campus next month to give other students in the middle school not enrolled in Mandarin an opportunity to learn about the culture.
“I’m so lucky I’m assigned toManhattan Beach,” Geng said.
“We’re very lucky too!” Seaton replied. ER
