"I use it at home with my family," said the first-grader at Manor View Elementary School. "That's good."
Ashlin a... VIEW ORIGINAL
Since starting school this year, 6-year-old Ashlin Clarke tosses out simple phrases in Mandarin such as "good night" to her family.
"I use it at home with my family," said the first-grader at Manor View Elementary School. "That's good."
Ashlin and the other students in grades one through five are in their first year of Mandarin instruction at the school.
The offering of a second language is part of Manor View's designation as an International Baccalaureate World School earlier this month.
"I feel very proud about being designated at an IB World School," Principal Donna O'Shea said. "It's a very prestigious honor, and our teachers have worked so hard to make it happen."
The International Baccalaureate is a nonprofit educational foundation based in Geneva that has created four programs for students ages 3 to 19 to help develop their intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live and work in a rapidly globalizing world, according to the foundation's website.
Manor View, Germantown and Southgate elementary schools entered the IB program at the start of the 2011 school year. Each school offers the IB Primary Years Programme for students ages 3 to 12 that focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and the world outside.
The IB curriculum focuses on six areas of inquiry and study: language, social studies, math, arts, science and physical, social and personal education.
Among the requirements for IB schools at the elementary level is instruction in a second language.
To achieve IB World School status, Manor View underwent a rigorous candidacy, application and verification process by the IB organization. That included a visit from IB representatives to ensure that the educational principles, standards and practices of the IB program will be maintained.
The Anne Arundel County Public Schools selected Mandarin as Manor View's foreign language offering so students could continue their IB education at MacArthur Middle School and Meade High School. Both schools offer the IB program for their grade level.
Zhang Guifen, a teacher from China, is the school's Mandarin instructor. She is working at Manor View as part of the Teachers of Critical Languages Program, a multilayered cross-cultural program funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education. TCLP is designed to increase the number of Americans teaching and studying Arabic and Mandarin, according to the organization's website.
Before coming to the U.S., Zhang Guifen taught English to Chinese students at a senior high school in the Anshan city province in Northeast China. She was one of 11 educators out of 2,000 applicants for TCLP selected to teach in an American classroom.
"I like teaching here," said Zhang Guifen, who is teaching at Manor View for one school year. "I love the students and they love me."
Zhang Guifen teaches basic Mandarin and numbers to students in grades one to five. She often uses art and songs to teach phrases such as hello, good night, "I love America" and "I love Chinese."
Cristina Black, a second-grade teacher at Manor View, is hosting Zhang Guifen at her home in Severn for the year.
Zhang Guifen said she enjoys the freedom she has at Manor View as an instructor.
"Teaching here, I can adjust teaching to the students," she said. "I have more opportunities to do what I think is right for the kids."
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