Students with the Century School Children's Chinese Choir - Khia Sheridan, 6, left, and Cameron Buzhardt, 8, - watch for a cue as they count to 10 in Chinese for residents of Pioneer Ridge during a short presentation Friday at the assisted living center. The students, who have been studying the basics of Chinese, performed several songs and recited a poem for the residents.

In a commons area of the Brandon Woods retirement home, a group of children raised their hands above their heads and counted off.

Yi, er, san, sÃ-, wu, liu. One, two, three, four, five, six.

After they finished, the assembled residents of the home burst into applause.

The children were all students at Century School, 816 Ky., where they learned several basic Mandarin Chinese terms with the help of a pilot program through Kansas University’s Center for East Asian Studies.

As part of the program, the students traveled to the Brandon Woods and Pioneer Ridge retirements home Friday to show off their new language skills through basic songs and a poem in front of an audience.

Randi Hacker, outreach coordinator for the center, said she helped organize the program because she wanted to instill a love of the language in children while they were still young.

By concentrating on the tonal differences in words – the way a word is said in Chinese can radically alter the meaning – and basic words, Hacker said she hoped many of the students would pursue the language as the got older.

“Chinese is so different from any romantic language,” she said. “It makes the brain operate in a completely different way.”

Hacker said children were at a particular advantage because studies have shown that the earlier a child learns a language the less likely it is they will have an accent.

Eli Jost, 10, said it was difficult at first to learn the various tonal differences in words, but once he got the hang of it he said it started to get easier.

Jesse Cox, 7, also said she had enjoyed learning some basic words over the past several weeks.

When asked if they would be interested in pursuing Chinese when they got older, the children responded with a resounding “Yes.”