VIDEO/PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Students step into Mandarin with summer immersion program

With fans twirling and ribbons flying, the dozen students in Glenbard West’s auditorium looked more like last year’s Beijing Olympics opening ceremony than a summer school class.

It might not have been evident, but they were picking up more than a traditional Chinese dance.

This summer in a 22-day immersion program, 15 students from all the Glenbard high schools are learning the basics of Mandarin Chinese, the most widely spoken language in the world.

They are ahead of an emerging trend in language education as China takes on a larger role in the world. The class is the first time Mandarin Chinese has been taught in District 87, but it won’t be the last.

Starting in 2010 Glenbard West is adding Mandarin to its curriculum, and summer program instructor George Kang hopes to expand the class to the other Glenbard schools next year.

“We hope they like it and we can continue to do it,” Kang said. “China is opening up. They’re becoming part of the global stage.”

The class is presented by Lisle-based Xinchuan Chinese School. Kang, in addition to teaching Chinese in the Lake Forest school district, is one of several instructors at Xinchuan, which also runs a summer program in Carol Stream’s School District 93.

At Glenbard West, the 15 students will spend a total of 90 hours in the class. Half of the time is strictly devoted to learning the language — writing and reading characters and pronouncing words. During the other half, students learn about Chinese culture, but even then they are advancing their knowledge of Mandarin.

“We call it ‘immersion’ because they’re trying to learn in real situations,” Kang said. For instance, he added, students learned a series of traditional Chinese dances.

“The instructions are given in Chinese,” Kang said. “The purpose is to show the back to front. The left, right. They count, ‘one, two, three, four.’”

The class culminates this week with a 90-minute presentation Thursday, July 30 morning at Glenbard West. With skits, students will showcase the language they have picked up, and they will perform some of the class’s cultural aspects. In addition to the dances, three students have learned to play a guzheng, a zither-like instrument with two-dozen strings.

The curriculum is Level 1 Mandarin: greetings and introductions, exchanging personal information and conversing with family.

“I feel like I’m picking up a lot more than I thought I would because it’s such a difficult language,” said Patricia Cavanaugh, a Bloomingdale resident and a rising senior at Glenbard East.

The toughest challenge in learning Chinese, aside from working with a completely new writing system, is grasping the emphasis on tone, Kang said. In Mandarin, words that are otherwise identical can have different meaning depending on the pitch of the word when spoken.

But the students are dealing with the subtleties well. On the 11th day of class, Kang brought in his daughter and had students pose questions to her. All but a few of the questions came across in pitch-perfect Mandarin.

“After 10 days of learning, they were doing well,” Kang said. “These are top-notch students. They spend their own time, their vacation time, learning something.”

Daniele Moreno, a Wheaton resident and rising senior at Glenbard South, said she signed up for the class because she wanted to do something productive with her summer. Now she wants to continue learning Mandarin.

“It’s a business language,” said Cheyenne Maldonado of Glendale Heights and a rising senior at Glenbard East. “Why not learn Chinese? That’s the question.”