Kindergartners tune in to Chinese

Kindergartners tune in to Chinese
Grant allows Kolter Elementary students to learn a language that is spoken by 1 billion


By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

In what would otherwise appear to be standard kindergarten fare, more than 20 youngsters sat cross-legged on a colorful rug singing a familiar children's tune about the parts of the body.

The catch: These Kolter Elementary School students were reciting the words in near-perfect Mandarin Chinese.

As the song ended, teacher Liling Yu said: "Children, you're wonderful. Tell your neighbors to say 'hen hao,' " Chinese for "very good."

The children obliged, cheerfully praising one another for their performance in the Asian language that's spoken by more than a billion people.

"I really like Chinese," said 6-year-old Ethan Glass. "It sounds a lot better than English, nicer sounds and calmer words."

Kolter Elementary — already a foreign language powerhouse — added a nine-week section of Mandarin Chinese for kindergartners last school year. A three-year, $500,000 federal grant that the campus received this year will be used to expand the Chinese language and culture program through the fifth grade.

A portion of the money will also go toward enriching the school's Japanese program.

Each of Kolter's 530 students studies either French, Spanish, Japanese or now Chinese throughout elementary school.

"All of the research shows that learning a language translates into higher math scores, higher science scores. There's a definite correlation," said Evangeline Jordan, Kolter's grant coordinator.

The U.S. Department of Education's Foreign Language Assistance grants — also awarded this year to the Katy and Plano school districts in Texas — are part of a $57 million federal initiative designed to increase the number of Americans learning "critical need" foreign languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi and Farsi.


Handful of campuses
While Mandarin Chinese is becoming increasingly popular in U.S. schools, this grant will put Kolter among just a handful of Houston-area campuses offering the language. Some middle and high schoolers in Houston and Katy are also among the 50,000 nationwide thought to be studying Chinese.

Marty Abbott, director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, applauded Kolter's effort to teach second languages in elementary.

"There really is no too soon," she said. "Because they are young and are able to duplicate the sounds of another language, they are more likely to have native-like pronunciations and intonations. Around puberty, you start to lose the ability to do that."

U.S. schools typically wait until the secondary grades to introduce a second language, at which time many students struggle with the subject.

"We really are the only industrialized nation that routinely graduates students from high school with just one language," Abbott said. "Historically, it hasn't been that important for us, but the world has changed fundamentally."


Logical choice for study
With all the talk of China's booming economy, Mandarin seems like a logical choice to many parents and educators.

Sharon MacLaren, who adopted two little girls from China, led the charge to have Mandarin Chinese added to the mix at Kolter.

"It's a new world order and it isn't Japanese anymore. It's Chinese," she said. "It's not just on the horizon. It's already risen."

Yu, Kolter's Chinese teacher, said she's seen unbelievable results with students as young as 5.

"I'm just overwhelmed by the children, how enthusiastic they are," she said. "You teach them (to count to) 10. They want to know 20, 30, 100."

Eighty percent of U.S. students who study a foreign language continue to choose Spanish, but Kolter youngsters say some of their peers should reconsider. Chinese deserves serious consideration, they say.

"The culture is different and I really like how they pronounce the words," said 7-year-old Matthew Katz, a Kolter first-grader. "It's just a good language to pick."

jennifer.radcliffe@chron.com

Moose Broke!

We went to Sarah's Manna's Christmas recital--La Fiesta de la Posada. At the end of all the singing (which was beautiful), they brought out a donkey-shaped piñata which the Mother of Our Lord and Savior proceeded to whack at with a big colorful stick.

This little piñata was quite resilient. In fact, one of the Three Wise Men took a whack at whacking this papier mache shell dangling from a rope on a pole. Eventually, one of its legs flew off, and then another. But, the gutsy little piñata wouldn't give up its guts.

So, the Wise Man (being wise) took a stab at stabbing the little guy in his underbelly. Finally, the candy poured out and the paper donkey was rendered rended and tossed aside.

By now, everyone in the church was laughing at the site of Three Wise Men dressed as mariachis and Mary Mother of God flailing at a hollow paper husk so ineffectively.

Then, I heard a sad little voice....


"moose broke! moose broke!" :-(


I turned and saw Sarah, a look of disbelief on her face--that someone who was singing so beautifully minutes before had taken to thrashing a colorful little animal (to her, a moose) until it came apart in so many pieces. And, everyone laughed at the sight. It must have been awful for her. She has never seen anything so violent in her two-and-a-half years.

We tried reassuring her that "moose" was okay, that "moose" was like a puzzle--made to come apart & be put back together again, that "moose" had a Band-Aid now, and was happy.


"moose broke" :-(


The next day, she didn't mention "moose" until bathtime. She started drumming on the tub's edge--just playing--and suddenly remembered what had happened the prior evening. She looked at me with those sad, compassionate eyes and said again...

"moose broke" :-(

"No, sweetie. Moose is okay now. He's happy, and is wearing a Wiggles Band-Aid."

"moose broke," she nodded knowingly.

She hasn't mentioned "moose" since then. It appears she wasn't scarred for life from the experience. But, lesson learned: pay more attention to your daughter, Dad, when things are out of the ordinary.

Mei-Mei...Close Call!

Well, the CCAA had a big meeting recently and decided on a bunch of new rules for adoptive parents. Starting 1/1/2007, they will only adopt to parents who are in "perfect health" (based on BMI, etc.), who are married for at least 2 years (5 years if either parent has ever been divorced), and there are some income/asset changes, too.

Well, now no one in Hollywood can adopt from China--their marriages don't last that long. Anyone who has any diagnosed condition is out of luck, and you have to be even richer than before. I'm guessing that they are trying to get their kids into affluent homes where parents will live a long time. But, skinny, healthy, young people have a tendency to do things like skydive, bungee jump, etc. So, they really aren't guaranteeing that a parent will live longer because they do or don't have psoriasis or an ingrown toenail.

I won't go down the path of who is a better parent based on physical traits because I don't think one thing has much to do with the other. But, it does show that no matter how good a parent is, they are not acceptable to China if they aren't in a good marriage (which I think is valid), aren't in excellent shape & health (which I think disqualifies a lot of good parents), and aren't well-off.

This doesn't affect our adoption of Sarah's mei-mei since our dossier was logged in back in August. But, had we waited a few months, we would not be getting a little sister for Sarah from China!