美国纽约时报关于中文教育的新闻

魂游天外

October 15, 2005
Classes in Chinese Grow as the Language Rides a Wave of Popularity
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By GRETCHEN RUETHLING
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0 ~) y# o/ h9 |# ~CHICAGO, Oct. 14 - The future of foreign language study in the
# q" V/ S- f3 X' G$ qUnited States might be glimpsed here at Louisa May Alcott Elementary
: C6 ]" O! H/ C8 I8 m4 ]School, in a classroom where lanterns with cherry blossoms and pandas
dangle overhead, and a paper dragon, an American flag and a Chinese
  n# i9 X9 P* c8 [, C" cflag hang from the wall.
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: ]6 C/ F0 g  l( QOne recent morning, a class of third graders bowed to one
another and introduced themselves in Chinese, and a class of fourth graders
practiced writing numbers in Chinese characters on marker
boards. Chinese classes began at Alcott in February, but more students
are already choosing it over Spanish.
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"Chinese is our new baby," said David J. Domovic, the principal
& F* Q( N- n& \1 bat Alcott, on the North Side, one of 20 public schools in the city
. j$ }+ W, v, }$ loffering instruction in Mandarin. "Everybody just wants in."

0 g$ h% T# l% UWith encouragement from the Chinese and American governments,
4 A4 T# s7 s, |schools across the United States are expanding their language offerings
to include Chinese, the world's most spoken tongue, not to mention
one of its most difficult to learn.
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7 i" e. t4 g& ^: G6 A* GLast month, the Defense Department gave a $700,000 grant to
  |( J7 q' B3 ipublic schools in Portland, Ore., to double the number of students
) p# b2 u5 W0 `1 r, X$ h3 Ostudying Chinese in an immersion program. In May, Senators Joseph I.
2 a% X: d6 y8 |- Q- u) ]Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, and Lamar Alexander, Republican of
  q/ \& M( ?& F+ L0 M. ITennessee, introduced a bill to spend $1.3 billon over five years on
Chinese language programs in schools and on cultural exchanges to
+ P; A; p- W( R: q0 p8 h! f. r" Pimprove ties between the United States and China. The bill has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

* H& b  J3 e0 `; {After 2,400 schools expressed interest, Advanced Placement
4 |# n0 ~' g- H3 [) ?Chinese classes will be offered in high schools around the country
' p$ ?6 \: M! n( z5 rstarting next year. Beijing is paying for half the $1.35 million to
4 }3 K+ V0 O$ a$ M' r. udevelop the classes, including Chinese teachers' scholarships and developing
$ W' O1 Z" A5 a  c* ~curriculums and examinations, said Trevor Packer, executive director
of the Advanced Placement Program at the College Board.
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9 Q' r: |3 @; y0 _& M! v7 ~+ {- `5 S"Many Americans are beginning to realize the importance of
speaking Chinese," Zhu Hongqing, consul at the Chinese Education
Consulate here, said. "We need to provide as much powerful support as we
- S$ }: s4 j: C/ U6 b2 P9 D, v- z0 T6 ocan."

9 o, N8 q7 x# I# Q3 _/ QThe number of Chinese language programs around the country, from
" i; z( j: j& g6 kelementary school through adult programs, has tripled in 10
years, said Scott McGinnis, an academic adviser at the Defense Language
Institute in Washington.

7 L2 k% Q( U- W8 [+ e/ ], h" Q"Chinese is strategic in a way that a lot of other languages
aren't," because of China's growth as an economic and military force, Mr.
McGinnis said.
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"Whatever tensions lie between us, there is a historical
longstanding mutual fascination with each other," he said. "Planning to be
/ A' I* m6 _0 U9 n0 {ready to engage with them rather than only thinking of them in terms of a
) M7 I* v: r9 n* Nchallenge or a competitor is the smart thing to do."

9 _4 {2 U; P4 S# U" U1 _$ Z" y* qUp to 50,000 students are studying Chinese in elementary and
( I) G) t  D) n7 C1 Bsecondary schools in the United States, experts estimate. Many are in
* e# G  i0 O  L$ y% z3 e) S# Gcities like New York and San Francisco that have large numbers of
Chinese-American students, and many take lessons after school or
2 n  u/ q& H( U5 O- D; s8 i6 Ton weekends.
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The Chicago program stands out because it is entirely in public
% ]0 m" s2 |# f! H- v- Qschools during the regular school day and primarily serves
1 i) m# D# J: a* D/ C3 t0 ~. D4 A: {. Ustudents who are not of Chinese descent.
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# y4 W% ?$ r4 YMayor Richard M. Daley, a vocal supporter of the program, said
proficiency in Chinese would be critical in understanding the
competition.
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"I think there will be two languages in this world," Mr. Daley
said. "There will be Chinese and English."
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) D/ c+ ]  s2 t2 }' KFrom an all-black elementary school on the West Side to a nearly
all-Hispanic elementary school on the South Side to more diverse
4 M5 D4 s" C: vschools throughout the city, some 3,000 students from
8 Z7 p+ H% Q4 s( Q1 l) Nkindergarten through high school are learning Chinese. The Chinese Education Ministry has called the program a model for teaching students
who are not of Chinese descent. The ministry donated 3,000 textbooks to
the school system last year.
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& M+ ^( P) [3 p* b! m' UThe program has expanded from three schools in 1999 to 20 this
0 }0 Z  u/ z) [  c# c( i2 Myear and is scheduled to add five by the end of the school year.
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"They have a great international experience right in their own
1 ^( B& S3 |) Vclassroom," said Robert Davis, manager of the district's Chicago
0 |, p3 |+ |, W; U8 i3 I; WChinese Connections Program, which seeks to develop skills to
5 F) s, [: s5 L0 y. j7 Jhelp students compete in the world marketplace. "We want them to meet
on an equal playing field."

+ O( _4 ^  O1 f. H) I' JSome parents here worry at first about how relevant the Chinese
classes are and whether they will be too difficult. The Foreign
Service Institute, which trains American diplomats, ranks
Chinese as one of the four most time-intensive languages to learn. An
average English speaker takes 1,320 hours to become proficient in
Chinese, compared with 480 hours in French, Spanish or Italian, the
institute says.
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Sevtap Guldur, 31, said she and her daughter Sahire, a fourth
* R1 ?7 _& Y+ y5 ~0 a4 H% S; T" lgrader at Alcott, looked over the unfamiliar Chinese characters before
deciding whether to take the class.

( b# r7 _0 Z7 a"If you're ready to learn that, go for it," Ms. Guldur said she
& c) R  Q6 A# z! a- f# Ftold her daughter.

Sahire, who is fluent in Turkish, said it was her favorite
class.

At Alcott, 160 students from kindergarten to fifth grade are
8 `3 \' ]* i( R+ W0 T6 c9 b  |studying Spanish, compared with 242 taking Chinese, although not without
occasional frustration.
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"Do we have to do it in Chinese?" a third grader asked during a
recent exercise, perhaps missing the point of the class.

Raul Freire, 9, a fourth grader fluent in Spanish, said he
taught words to his mother so she could better communicate with
- a7 m0 Y# u* ]( b4 hChinese-speaking customers at the bank where she works.

  g2 Q2 K' B4 d1 l' m4 P"Mostly everybody in the school wants to take Chinese," Raul
said. "I think about being a traveler when I grow up, so I have to learn
as many languages as I can."

0 q8 D4 D' D* ?- \! c9 Y: @) A+ rAdriana Freire, 33, Raul's mother, who is from Ecuador, said the
skills would help her son be a better competitor in the job
market. "I never thought that he was going to be able to do something like
that," Ms. Freire said.
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Most of the 10 elementary and 10 high schools in the program
' X0 f4 o( d* Y5 q) @! k2 |. vhere offer the language four times a week for 40 minutes a day. Each
school decides how to fit the class in the school day, with some taking
time from classes like physical education, music and art to make
room.
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Chicago has a waiting list of schools that want to offer
Chinese. The main obstacle is a lack of teachers certified by an American
college, a requirement of the No Child Left Behind law, Mr. Davis said.
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' B8 f) }# N& a"It's hard when we can't hire a teacher that is qualified
0 [1 J4 @& v6 Mbecause of that missing certification," he said.
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The shortage of teachers is common throughout the United States,
said Michael Levine, executive director of education at the Asia
. h5 e2 H' t4 U6 n1 @Society in New York.
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Six states have signed or plan to sign agreements with the
Chinese government to import teachers from China and send teachers from
9 n. X4 C3 S8 R6 ~the United States to China for training, Mr. Levine said.

) P+ v$ k% }: B+ Y: S( s"Eventually," he said, "we're going to have to homegrow our
+ T) `# x# O" Cown."
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7 O/ H% k7 v/ fCopyright 2005 The New York Times Company