Language of the future
Nancy Lang held a flashcard in front of the children. Black strokes written in different directions covered the card. Lang nodded her head, signaling that it was time for the first-graders to pronounce the word.
"Ni hao," the class yelled, speaking the Chinese word for hello.
Lang teaches Chinese at New Life Academy of Excellence in Gwinnett County, one of a small-but-growing number of schools in metro Atlanta teaching the language. The schools say understanding Chinese will be a vital skill in today's global economy.
The number of Georgia public schools offering Chinese has climbed from two to more than 20 in the last five years, including schools in Atlanta, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett, according to the state education department.
National figures are more telling.
About 5,000 schools taught in 2000, compared with an estimated 50,000 now, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
"It's been growing by leaps and bounds, faster than any other language," said Marty Abbott, director of education for the council.
She cited several reasons.
In January 2006, President Bush announced the National Security Language Initiative to increase proficiency in Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi and Russian as a matter of national security. The other languages haven't taken off, but more and more students want to learn Chinese.
"It's the Chinese economy and their dominance in the world market," Abbott said. "People are looking toward the future and want students to be ready."
That's why New Life Academy and the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology started teaching Chinese. As charter schools, they receive tax dollars but have more latitude than traditional public schools in what and how they teach.
Alphonsa Foward Jr., director of New Life Academy, said his students should be bilingual by the end of eight years at the school. The elementary and middle school opened in August with about 200 students.
"Chinese is a business language," Foward said. "We are preparing children for the world business market. We are putting our students above the rest."
Tricia Kennedy, executive director of curriculum and instruction for Gwinnett schools, said the district's growing Asian population also expressed interest in schools offering Chinese. The course is taught at Peachtree Ridge High in Suwanee, where about one in four students is Asian.
The growth in these classes means schools are hunting for Chinese teachers.
Liuxi "Louis" Meng, coordinator of the Chinese program at Kennesaw State University, said public and private schools throughout the South have called looking for teachers. He said the college is developing a master's degree program in teaching Chinese and plans to have it ready by summer 2008.
"We're expecting the interest to keep growing," Meng said. "I think Chinese will be popular for years."
If the past is any indication, though, Chinese could be another fad.
American schools historically become more interested in a country's foreign language when the United States feels threatened by that nation, Abbott said.
Russian became more popular in the 1950s after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Japanese classes grew in the 1980s because of that country's global dominance. Interest in both languages later waned.
Regardless of global issues, some students signed up for Chinese because they thought it would be interesting.
George He expected 50 students would take his Chinese classes at Peachtree Ridge, but about 90 registered.
"I think they enrolled out of curiosity and now they are attracted to it and motivated to learn," he said.
The class requires meticulous memorization. Successful students spend hours writing characters and perfecting pronunciation.
Ashley Murray, a junior at Peachtree Ridge, said she's having fun learning the language.
"It gets so boring studying Spanish or French or German every year," Ashley said. "Sometimes you just want to study something different. And if this helps me later in life, it's just a bonus."
WHY STUDY CHINESE
> Global issues: "It's the Chinese economy and their dominance in the world market."
> Career motivation: "Chinese is a business language."
> It's trendy: "I think they enrolled out of curiosity and now they are attracted and motivated to learn."
