Archive for Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Archive for Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Language program designed to whet appetites for Chinese

Youngsters get six-week introduction through KU outreach center

Six-year-old Emily Myers stretches her arms as she expresses the word “da,” which means “big” in Mandarin Chinese. Emily is one in a group of Lawrence children learning the basics of Chinese from Randi Hacker, outreach coordinator for the Center for East Asian Studies at Kansas University. The classes meet weekly at New York School. Below, Hacker greets her students in Chinese to begin the class.

Six-year-old Emily Myers stretches her arms as she expresses the word “da,” which means “big” in Mandarin Chinese. Emily is one in a group of Lawrence children learning the basics of Chinese from Randi Hacker, outreach coordinator for the Center for East Asian Studies at Kansas University. The classes meet weekly at New York School. Below, Hacker greets her students in Chinese to begin the class.

October 3, 2007

Advertisement

Chinese lesson
Teacher Randi Hacker, outreach coordinator for Kansas University's Center for East Asian Studies, teaches children how to say some basic words in Mandarin Chinese.

Teacher Randi Hacker, outreach coordinator for Kansas University's Center for East Asian Studies, teaches children how to say some basic words in Mandarin Chinese. Watch

Group of Lawrence children learning Chinese
It's a far cry from simple phonics or ABC's. But a group of Lawrence kids have a vocabulary that's greater than most adults'. 6News reporter George Diepenbrock shows us one local program where English takes a back-seat.

It's a far cry from simple phonics or ABC's. But a group of Lawrence kids have a vocabulary that's greater than most adults'. 6News reporter George Diepenbrock shows us one local program where English takes a back-seat. Watch

On the street

What do you wish you had been taught as a young child?

I wish I had learned a second language earlier. Just because it’s supposed to be easier when you’re younger, and I had a pretty hard time with it when I got older.

More responses

Randi Hacker can put her young students through a workout.

But it’s the fun kind: touch your toes, hands on your knees, spread out your arms.

And it’s unusual because the Lawrence children — preschool age to third grade — are taking their commands in Mandarin Chinese.

It’s part of a six-week introductory course to the language taught by Hacker, the outreach coordinator for Kansas University’s Center for East Asian Studies.

“If you move around while you’re learning a language, you remember it better,” said Hacker, also an accomplished children’s author. “I try to make it as active as possible, as interactive as possible.”

The class meets Monday evenings, and this week marked the third class. A federal grant funds the center’s outreach efforts, and the staff of New York School, 936 N.Y., allowed Hacker to use a classroom.

“It’s a nice, low-pressure, fun introduction to foreign language, using music, which I think is a really effective learning tool,” parent Nancy Cayton Myers said.

Her daughters, Emily and Natalie Myers, have participated.

“It’s becoming ever more important for our children to be aware of Chinese culture and language,” said another parent, Dawn Hawkins.

She was watching her daughter, Jasper Hawkins, a New York School third-grader, take part Monday. Even though it’s in a New York classroom, children from across Lawrence are taking the class.

“All we’re trying to do is get them familiar with the tones (of speaking Mandarin Chinese). Once it’s in there, they’ll never forget it,” Hacker said.

She also hopes the class can be a jumping-off point for the young students and make them want to learn more Chinese when they get older.

The class includes mostly American children but also Chinese children who live with adoptive families here. Hacker herself began to learn Chinese when she adopted from China her daughter Juliana, who now is 12. Juliana has helped her mother teach some of the classes.

The 6 p.m. Monday class allows the Center for East Asian Studies to fulfill part of its mission for community outreach, Hacker said. Once the first six weeks wrap up later this month, parents can decide whether to continue their children’s education, she said.