Our Lady of Lourdes offers Chinese pilot program

Our Lady of Lourdes

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Our Lady of Lourdes

SALT LAKE CITY – On an early fall day at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, eight seventh-graders are busy reenacting real-life situations, pronouncing words and practicing character strokes – in Mandarin Chinese.

This year, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School is giving students the opportunity to investigate a new culture and language with a Mandarin Chinese pilot program being offered for the first time in any Utah Catholic middle school.

Currently 13 seventh- and eighth-grade students are enrolled in Chinese I. They attend class twice a week at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and are taught by Ben Quah. Though in his second year teaching at Judge, this is Quah’s first year teaching middle school students and he says he enjoys their willingness to learn.

Students learn the correct pronunciation of the characters, character recognition, and how to write the characters using strokes in the correct order through technology and application implemented in a seamless way. Language instruction is mixed with a strong cultural component.

Quah manages the classroom in a casual manner, allowing for some spontaneous energy to bring out enthusiasm. He immerses the students in the language by speaking to them frequently, and an array of memorabilia in his classroom reflects Chinese heritage, history and culture.

Technology proves to be a natural instruction tool for Chinese. Our Lady of Lourdes School purchased the specialized "type-to-learn" software IQ Chinese. This uses Pinyin, which transcribes the sounds of Mandarin into the Roman alphabet. It gives students the ability to see, hear, speak, show and collaborate as never before. It also allows a proficient instructor to make the learning fun.

The benefits in the classroom of having supporting technologies are significant, but learning the language is only half the battle. Knowing about the culture behind the language is the other half. To help create a platform of knowledge and understanding that is crucial for effective communication, Quah has the students apply Chinese to real-life situations.

With a smart board backdrop, students reenact a variety of situations such as riding an elevator and making a purchase at a store.

"This helps the students learn the correct pronunciation and the non-verbal cultural gestures to express themselves correctly and appropriately," Quah said. "The students have a lot of fun because it’s like a game."

The response from both students and parents about the pilot program has been very positive.

"Learning the Chinese language, culture and history has been a fun challenge," said seventh-grader Max Stireman. "It’s so different than anything I’ve ever tried to learn before."

Laura Stireman, Max’s mother, said, "It’s nice to see Max embrace his new foreign language choice and be excited to do his homework for class. We want our children to be as prepared as possible for the future."

In addition to enriching the students’ knowledge of and exposure to the Chinese cultures and language, the class creates an advantage for those wanting to continue the language in high school.

"We really want to make it permanent," said Christine Bergquist, principal of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School. "Not only does it enhance what we can offer our middle school students, it allows for sustainability and growth of the program at Judge and prepares them for an increasingly competitive world."