By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Anthony Du, front, does a nursery school dance in
Queen Kaahumanu School's new Mandarin class.
Soaking up
the Mandarin
Queen Kaahumanu School students
By Debra Barayuga
are absorbing the language 'like sponges'
Star-BulletinSrilakshmi Golakoti will return to her hometown in India this summer to amaze relatives by writing her name in Chinese. Jason Wong one day hopes to converse with his grandmother in California who speaks Cantonese. And Tahirih LaBolle is excited about relearning the language she spoke for the first four years of her life.
All three Queen Kaahumanu School students are learning Mandarin -- the first time it's being offered at an elementary school on Oahu. Project CLASS -- Chinese Language Achievement through Sequential Study -- is made possible by a three-year federal grant offered by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Bilingual Education, said Gayle Ozawa, principal at Queen Kaahumanu.
By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Sophie Gao puts joy into her dance.
Nearly two months into the program, students can count to 100, introduce themselves and greet others, express their likes and dislikes -- in Mandarin, said Ling Wang, one of three teachers hired for the project.The students can also write simple characters and identify Chinese characters.
Wang, who taught English as a second language in China, is tickled that she's teaching Mandarin as a second language here. The children, some with no Chinese background, are learning more quickly than teachers had expected, she said. "The kids are like sponges -- they absorb quickly."
Funds only allowed for 60 students to participate the first year. Students were chosen on a first-
come, first-served basis. The classes are made up of children from kindergarten to third grade with diverse backgrounds -- Samoan, Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, Marshallese, Japanese and Korean.
Classes, which began April 7, run for an hour after school in two sessions. During the summer, students will continue lessons four hours a day for six weeks, beginning June 18.
The grant provided $160,000 the first year and $80,000 the second year.
The grant runs out in the program's third year, but school officials hope to continue Project CLASS by reapplying for grants or making partnerships in the community, Ozawa said. Their goal is to continue the program into the middle and high schools. The program is intensive, bringing students up to state performance standards in foreign language.
The only public schools that offer Chinese language as part of the curriculum are Kalani and McKinley high schools, said Anita Bruce, Department of Education educational specialist for world languages. Kaimuki and Roosevelt used to offer Mandarin.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Laughter fills the room as, from left, Sandra Sadara,
Alison Long and DeAnthony Nachampasak
play a game using Mandarin.
At least 80 other elementary schools statewide offer either Japanese, Spanish and some Hawaiian. Waiau offers German.Teaching a foreign language early on takes advantage of a child's ability to imitate sounds and retain the knowledge, Bruce said. "We like to create a sense of appreciation earlier -- and they stay with it longer."
Alice Taum, who has sons Cory and Christian enrolled in the program, said she was amazed at how quickly they picked up the language. The teachers make learning Mandarin fun for the children, she said. The children even get to watch "Chinese Sesame Street."
Song, dance and art are intertwined with writing and reading, Ozawa said. The main focus, however, is on speaking Mandarin, which students do through singing and reciting poetry.
Parent David LaBolle has noticed how easily his two younger daughters can imitate their older sister, who is participating in Project CLASS.
Daughter Tahirih, 7, was born in Taiwan and grew up speaking Mandarin. But in preschool and her kindergarten year, she seemed ashamed to speak it, LaBolle said. If people spoke to her in Chinese, she would respond in English.
"Being in this environment, it's returning," LaBolle said. "She's real excited and proud about it."
Learning a foreign language "helps build bridges between people of different backgrounds and countries," said parent Rajarajeswari Golakoti. Daughter Srilakshmi, 8, also speaks Telugu, the local language in their native India.
Golakoti said she sees the enthusiasm her daughter has for the class when Srilakshmi comes home and shares what she has learned.
"I like it -- I learn lots of new words," Srilakshmi said. "I can write my name in Chinese."
School officials chose to offer Chinese with the hope of forming relationships with China, Ozawa said.
"We feel China is a very important country -- economically very powerful and will have a great impact globally in years to come. We'd like our children to be ready to be able to communicate and relate to the Chinese coming here to Hawaii."
