Ludlow elementary students will be able to learn Mandarin starting this fall.
Mary A. Goetz Elementary Principal Tonya Brummer said at this week’s city council meeting that a new program will allow the school to bring in teachers from China to help teach the students.
“The teacher starts in the primary, grades Kindergarten, first and second grades,” Brummer said. “The way I want to structure the program here is, the teacher will come into the classrooms for fifteen to twenty minute lessons two to three times a week, while the main teacher is still in the classroom. The children are little sponges, and they will be learning Mandarin in a couple of weeks.”
The Kentucky Center for Mandarin Language and Culture is working in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education. The center hires teachers, then helps them secure a visa, find a place to live, and provides them with money to purchase supplies.
The program is open to any school or district in Kentucky, and is currently in many schools, including Beechwood locally. All new programs focus on teaching a language in elementary schools.
“The benefits of a second language acquisition on the brain development are higher the earlier students are given access,” said Carrie Wheeler, from the Kentucky Center for Mandarin Language and Culture. “KCMLC partners with two Chinese Universities to supply teachers and offer summer exchange opportunities for our students. For example, Shanghai University offers several summer programs at a reduced cost for any eligible students from districts participating in the grant.”
For years, research has suggested that attitudes about other groups and people are formed by the age of 10 and are often shaped between the ages of 4 and 8, Wheeler said. Wheeler also said that learning a language at a young age helps to connect a child with another culture while they are still open-minded and have not begun to think of others as different.
Brummer was previously a vice principal at Beechwood Independent Schools and first encountered the program during her time there.
“These teachers are well trained, nice people,” Brummer said. “They came in and did a great job. They became part of the Beechwood family.”
Ludlow does not currently have a foreign language program.
“When children are little, they pick things up so easily,” Brummer said. “They would be able to pick up a second language easily. The children who speak English as a second language also easily pick up another language. It is amazing to watch kids grow.”
