Pat’s Polemics

I'm happy that this journalist plans to consult with ACTFL in the future re. language instruction. I think Pa's prediction that most Chinese programs will produce very few Chinese speakers, extremely few that will be able to speak well enough to conduct important business in Chinese, is correct. It would be wonderful, although perhaps hoping for too much, if this journalist could spend A LOT of time in Chinese language classrooms and become an advocate for methods that rely on comprehensible input and narratives as the major methodology.
In the NYTimes article the last paragraph uses standard journalistic style--ending with an upbeat statement from a Chinese teacher: "After just four months, her prekindergarten students can already say phrases like “I want lunch” and “I’m angry” in Chinese, Ms. Wang said." John Q. Public may not see anything wrong with this, but most language teachers see nothing fabulous or special about this claim. Very little that a student can SAY, output, is an accurate measurement of what s/he understands.
I hope Pat and this journalist stay in touch. And wouldn't it be wonderful if the majority of the Chinese teachers in this new trend could AVOID the pitfalls and wasteful methodologies of generations of Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Latin teachers?

As one of the teachers quoted in the article, a member of ACTFL and many other professional groups, I feel that I must respond as well. First of all, at the end of my post you will read a message from a former student that alerted me to the publication of the NY Times article. Please make sure that you read this Duke grad's message as a testament to the importance of adding Chinese to our curriculum. I would also like to make a very important comment regarding the nature of Chinese education. As a member of the "Chinese Bridge Delegation" to China in December, I had the opportunity to meet many Chinese teachers, headmasters, government education officials, and visit their schools,as well. You would be surprised as to how advanced they are in curriculum. I observed English lessons, for instance, that were well-planned with comprehensible input, use of authentic resources, and focus on higher order thinking skills. We were quite impressed. Also on this delegation, we had the opportunity to attend learning sessions on how to mentor Chinese teachers, develop Chinese curriculum, etc. This was all quite impressive. Chinese is being added to our curriculum in a very well-thoughout way, with emphasis on best teaching practices and carefully designed articulation. Now, back to the article itself: Sam Dillon interviewed me for more than one and a half hours, then followed up with another phone call. I think that he learned a lot from me, but ended up just printing "quotes" which I did not state as he wrote them! This angers me. For instance: The comment about our school eliminating German says nothing about how difficult the decision, nor how I fought to keep all four languages. It also does not state that we are phasing it out so that our current students can continue through all levels, nor does it mention how we polled our parents and students as to the importance of our languages...resulting in Spanish #1, Chinese #2, French #3, and German #4. This is important information to know. Also, I would never have stated that we got a "free" teacher because we do subsidize his pay, provide insurance, etc. In closing, as department chair and Spanish/French teacher, I must state that our goal as educators is to prepare our students for their futures. Decisions in education are never easy, but we must make them with our students' future needs in mind. Please read my former student's message and you will see that we absolutely must add Chinese to our curriculum:
Dear Mrs. Draggett,

It has been almost 10 years since I left Jackson High School to pursue college and life. In that amount of time, it is quite possible that names and faces have been forgotten, but nonetheless, I felt motivated to write to you after reading in the NYTimes about Jackson High School's new Chinese program started/organized by you.

I find it spectacularly wonderful that Jackson is offering Chinese language classes. My high school, to be leading change and progress in our education system... it just brings a smile to my face.

Knowing/speaking Chinese is such an important tool now-a-days, especially personally for myself. I am currently working in the scientific field, doing chemistry/biology anti-cancer research, and I have spent the majority of my time in undergrad and graduate school in all chinese laboratories. I am indeed a minority in my own field amongst my peers. But it is such a wonderful culture with very friendly people, that I feel it would behoove me to begin to learn it.

I wouldn't be surprised that in another decade knowing chinese will help you find a job not only in the sciences but in other fields as well. I guess the reason I am writing to you is that in high school and even in college, knowing a foreign language seemed impractical ... but now looking back on it, knowing what i know now, I wish I had Chinese offered when I was at Jackson. Instead, I will have to attempt to learn Chinese on my own to get a long in a world that is shrinking by the minute.

With warmest regards, your former student,

Janos Nadas

How I appreciate responses to my blog! Thank you.

If a school decided to offer Yoruba, I would be delighted, or Modern Greek. It's hard to think of any language spoken by more than a few hundred thousand people that doesn't have a lot to offer students.

The thrust of my observations was that our field has been attacked for following fads, something I deny but which is not helped by a sudden spurt in "programs" in a language seldom studied at the h.s. level in the U.S. before.

What would keep Chinese from being a fad language? Exactly what you describe, Parthena. Find a base for it, survey the need, plan the program carefully, find well-prepared teachers...... and even then its future over the next decade is iffy. What I've seen in the past causes me to doubt that many programs are as well instituted as yours. In my old district, I saw both Russian and Japanese go this route. French and German barely hang on, dependent mostly on charismatic if not magical teachers. Until couselors stop seeing fl as something to "get out of the way" and the difficulties of Spanish are taught [witness the ignorance of many Spanish teachers of grammar and usage], Spanish will dominate fl teaching as the "easy" language.

I cannot help but repeat my constant theme over the last 15 years on flteach - where's the beef? That is, who has learned a fl to any degree of proficiency, even if it's just tourist Spanish, after 3 to 4 years of h.s. study or two years of college study?

My rather pointed questions about teachers from China are based on a couple of perceptions I have: the fact that teachers imported from other countries often have difficulty matching their "style" to American students and that the Chinese in particular are devoted to grammar study and memorization.

Of course I recognize that many U.S. teachers would not find anything wrong with grammar study and memorization, but it is my opinion that such an approach would doom the study of Chinese in that few would learn the language, just as few learn L2 now when it's taught that way.

Dillon's response may not please us all, but the fact that he responded in a thoughtful way is a hopeful sign. Your response, Parthena, is also hopeful. If not here, then somewhere, we must address these issues if Chinese is not going to turn out to be another fad.