Mandarin Now Spoken at Staten Island Academy
“I want to be able to talk to Wang next time I go to a Yankees game.” “I want to learn how to eat with chopsticks.” “Mandarin is so cool.”
Those were a few of the responses teacher Li Chen-Zhou heard from her young students when she asked why they wanted to study Mandarin in Staten Island Academy’s new language program.
Mrs. Chen-Zhou, who graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree from the People’s University of China in Beijing, China, and a Master’s degree in education from the College of Staten Island, traveled to China during the summer of 2007 to participate in an advanced training session for teachers of Mandarin as a second language in preparation for her work with Academy students.
A native Mandarin speaker, Mrs. Chen-Zhou expects to be teaching her class completely in Chinese by the holiday break in December. Her initial work with her young charges has included introducing basic vocabulary and pronunciation.
The students have many questions…it is a thrill for me to share my heritage with them,” said Mrs. Chen-Zhou.#
