The Ile Camera
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Chinese classes for children to be held
PUBLISHED: January 11, 2008
More than 1.3 billion people speak Chinese, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.
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Some school districts are starting to offer Chinese as a course.
Starting this month, the classes will be offered at Parke Lane and Meridian elementary schools as an after-school enrichment program for students in kindergarten to fifth grade.
Registrations will be taken by the Grosse Ile Recreation Department.
Grosse Ile resident Yi-Chia Schmaeman has been invited by members of the Grosse Ile Foreign Language Committee to bring the program to the school district.
Schmaeman, a retired automotive engineer, was born and raised in Taiwan. She has been involved in many youth programs in the community including the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.
She has been teaching Chinese at St. Paul on the Lake School in Grosse Pointe Farms.
St. Paul, a K-8 Catholic school, wanted to add Chinese classes. After the search committee reviewed programs, references and proposals, "Fun with Panda" was the choice.
The Chinese immersion program is designed to make learning easy, fun and effective, according to organizers.
Songs, activities, games, books and crafts are used to impart the language skills.
The primary focus will be on building conversation and speaking skills. Chinese writing will be instructed along with tones and character development. A cultural lesson also is presented each week.
Students and parents have the option of reinforcing learning at home through a member-only Web site. The Web site includes sound bites of all vocabulary and songs introduced in each class for a continuous learning opportunity during the week.
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