Sarah Maddox Reporter
NCHS Chinese students took their yearly community service field trip to East, West and South Elementary schools to give short lessons to students on Friday, May 24. After heading to each elementary school, they were treated to Chinese food from Pearl East restaurant. The trip was led by Chinese teacher Linda Rosenthal. According to Ms. Rosenthal, “The trip last year was very successful,” she also felt that both the students and children got a lot out of the experience.
One of the goals of the trip was for each elementary school student involved to learn six Chinese characters. High school students taught the elementary school kids basic Chinese characters while trying to make it fun and interesting. “I want my students to experience being teacher for the day,” Ms. Rosenthal said.
The Chinese program was founded at NCHS five years ago by Ms. Rosenthal. The language course has the least number of students enrolled compared to other languages. “One of the goals of the trip is to expand the program,” Ms. Rosenthal said.
The amount of students taking Chinese at the high school in the past couple of years has not increased, however, the introduction of it at Saxe Middle School may change this statistic. The hope is that students will enjoy Mandarin in middle school and continue the course in high school.
Students had similar goals for the trip. “I want to give the elementary school kids a better understanding of the Chinese language and get them interested in the language, so when they do go to the high school they can consider taking Chinese,” sophomore Hannah Kirkpatrick said.
After taking Chinese throughout high school, senior Katie Difazio wanted to promote the language on the trip. “I think Chinese is a fun language, especially for people who like to draw, which is why last year so many kids were great at writing the characters out,” Katie said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to share the language with such a young group of children.”
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