Thread: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools To Offer Chinese Classes

http://www.wral.com/apncnews/4923043/detail.html

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Students in several Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools will be able to learn Chinese this year, a move that educators said is important because of China's influence on the world economy.

Mandarin Chinese debuts this year at Independence and Olympic high schools, and Smith Academy of International Languages. Next month, the school board is expected to begin an immersion program for kindergarten and first grade.

The program "is important for the economic future of the United States," interim Superintendent Frances Haithcock wrote this week to school board members. "As a large urban school district, CMS needs to be on the cutting edge."

School system leaders hope to expand the program by a grade level annually, so that by the 2010-11 school year, students in grades K-5 would be enrolled. CMS would also evaluate whether to offer the immersion program in middle and high schools.

Experts say it's easier to learn the complicated language at earlier ages. But North Carolina offers just two _ in the Wake County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school districts.

Educators shortages of textbooks and teachers are obstacles to setting up classes in Chinese.

"The benefits so outweigh the challenges," said Heidi Von Dohlen, who oversees Chapel Hill-Carrboro's program, which has a waiting list of two dozen names.

CMS school board Vice Chairwoman Kit Cramer, who said her son takes Chinese at Independence, supports the idea.

"Even if my son doesn't speak Chinese fluently, he's going to have a much better understanding of the culture and the customs," Cramer said. "If he ever engages in international business, he'll have a real advantage."

CMS leaders say they will rely on an exchange program that has helped find teachers for language-immersion programs in Spanish, French, German and Japanese. And they're confident 5-year-olds can master both alphabets, even though they're dramatically different.

"They certainly do in our Japanese class," said Smith Principal Ynez Olshausen. "It's pretty amazing _ even after four weeks of school, you can see that they totally get it."

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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com

More liberal hossapples. I want to learn Antarctican since that's where I'm going to move when America is turned into one giant socialist tower of Babel.