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About the Story: One in five Chinese citizen is learning English and getting ready for the global economy. But too few Americans speak Chinese. Now, a few Southern Californian public schools are getting students who are interested in Mandarin. How do they start? Four teachers from China is a beginning. Sam Louie reports. (TRT: 7:34)

: The Association of Chinese Teachers; Chinese Language Teachers Association; Language Door; Los Angeles Chinese Learning Center; NPR’s “Schools Find Chinese Teachers in Short Supply” Audio; UCLA Asia Institute; Tags: Chinese, Education, LAUSD

Mandarin Teachers

Publish date: September 25, 2007
Last updated: December 12, 2007

Reporter's NOTES

Sam Louie
China’s presence in the world is hard to ignore; everything from toy recalls to next year’s Olympics to Wal-Mart is connected to China. Nowadays, schoolchildren in the U.S. are connecting with Chinese language and culture through Mandarin classes. China’s power is re-shaping the educational landscape as more districts are now teaching Mandarin Chinese to help their students compete in today’s marketplace.

We invite you to tell us your thoughts about this issue.

COMMUNITY VIEWPOINTS

11.09.2007 | 8:21 pm
I recently returned from a nine-day stay in China, and I am absolutely convinced that we must learn Chinese. I have now vowed to do so.

Although economic benefit is clear when considering learning Chinese, it is also important to consider the cultural interaction that can be shared when one speaks another language. Learning to communicate with others of a different culture can only advance the peace process for the entire world. This, to me, is more important than mere dollars, or yuan, as the case may be.

Kate - North Hollywood, California

09.28.2007 | 6:06 am
This was such an interesting and important story. As stated by Eric Olander in the story, knowing Mandarin as a second language will definitely put you in a whole separate category as not only an interesting person, but also a highly desirable employee.

More coverage such as the one done by Sam Louie needs to be sent to the American population, and it needs to draw the attention of media such as CNN and others. The more Americans are exposed to this type of cultural information, the greater the understanding of the richness of being able to communicate in a different language. Being able to communicate in more than one language is the first step to unbelievable rewards and helps remove a lot of taboos we hold.

Progressive - Canton, Georgia

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