Cardinal Maida Academy joins Chinese language, culture program
From pittsburghlive.com
Students at Cardinal Maida Academy will be exposed to Chinese language and culture next school year thanks to a program funded by the Chinese government and the University of Pittsburgh.
The Catholic school will be one of 45 statewide to host a teacher from China through the University of Pittsburgh's Confucius Institute.
A graduate student trained in teaching Chinese as a foreign language has been specifically chosen for Cardinal Maida, said Michele Heryford, managing director of Pitt's Confucius Institute
The institute is a culture and language program that opened in 2007 and is one of 60 in the United States.
Its primary function is to introduce Chinese language instruction to grade school children and students at small colleges and universities. It uses volunteer teachers from China who are trained in teaching Chinese as a foreign language.
"China is going to become a very important country for us to know more about," Heryford said. "It's rising economically in the world. There's so much business in Pennsylvania being done in China. It only makes sense we would start learning the language and understand the culture more so we can have a better business relationship."
The program started with two teachers and 300 students, and will grow to 24 teachers and 3,500 students in the fall.
Cardinal Maida has about 125 students in kindergarten through seventh grade this year, and will add an eighth grade next school year.
"We like starting in elementary schools," Heryford said, "Young kids learn language faster than older kids."
The teacher for Cardinal Maida will arrive in July and receive training for two weeks in Pittsburgh, Heryford said.
The Chinese government pays the teachers' salaries, Heryford said. Participating schools get access to books to build a library and curriculum materials.
Schools pay a fee to Pitt, which Heryford would not disclose. Hosting schools are required to provide housing and health insurance for the teacher.
Heryford said the cost of getting a teacher through the program is $10,000 to $12,000, "considerably less" than the cost of hiring a teacher. Most of the volunteer teachers stay in the program for one year, although they can stay longer if they choose, Heryford said.
In the Alle-Kiski Valley, New Kensington-Arnold is in its second year participating in the Confucius Institute program, while Kiski Area is finishing its first.
New Kensington-Arnold had two teachers last year, who went to every school in the district. For the younger children, they wouldn't teach Chinese language, but instead talked about their culture and history and answered questions.
"It was more of a fun-thing exposure," said Superintendent George Batterson.
This year, the district has one teacher, Xeng Jun, teaching classes in beginning and second-level Mandarin Chinese at the high school and middle school.
"She's a really good teacher. We're very fortunate to have her," Batterson said. "She's very articulate in English and Chinese. The students really like her a lot. She's really popular."
In addition to getting a teacher through the program, Kiski Area hired a Chinese teacher after German was phased out due to declining enrollment. Chinese replaced it.
The teachers at Kiski Area are instructing at the intermediate and high schools. Having two teachers makes the course stronger, said Patrick Hefflin, assistant to the superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
"You have two professionals proficient in the language. One is highly qualified to deliver American education, then you have another teacher who is from China bringing information from her homeland into the lesson. It actually validates what they're learning in the classroom," Hefflin said. "The kids get a chance to see two adults speaking the language and converse with each other. It really makes it real for them."
Hefflin recommended districts interested in providing Chinese for students partner with Pitt.
"They make sure that the individuals that are coming over as visiting teachers are top teachers," she said. "They're very highly qualified and very much excited about sharing their culture and sharing their language with the American children."
