$112,000 Grant Aids in Chinese Mandarin Language Workshops
For the next two weeks, high school students and teachers have the chance to get a foundation in Mandarin Chinese or sharpen their skills of the language with several workshops.
“We are trying to cultivate future leaders in the education field-the Chinese language education field,” says Dr. Rui Feng.
Thanks to a $112,000 grant, 2 workshops on Mandarin Chinese have been made possible with the Troy-Star talk program. It was originally for teachers. But now includes students.
“We added a student component because we wish that both the students and the teachers can work together and learn better with the interactions between the them,”
While teachers sharpen their skills. Students spend most of the workshops learning Chinese characters, which they believe will have future rewards.
“It sets you apart growing up, to get into colleges-it helps with that, and in jobs,” says Carolyn Parrisher.
“Especially in business, in international business, Chinese is a very, very important language,” says Jerry Slocomb
The workshops don’t stop there. Students participating also have a chance to study abroad in China…Which brings reality to the language they’re studying.
“I think it’s really important that we recognize and respect the differences that we have in order to improve relations between the 2 nations,” says Slocomb.
“Once you understand a culture, and learn the culture then you can appreciate it,” says Parrisher.
