Why Learn Chinese?

What Do We Do in Our

Chinese Classes?

Jane Zou

Chinese Teacher

Riverwood High School

Ridgeview Middle School

zoux@fultonschools.org

5 Top Reasons to Learn Chinese

1. To be equipped for future opportunities, by

giving yourself the Chinese Advantage!

- China is the 2nd largest economy in the world.

world.

2. The world is becoming flat in global economy!

As Thomas Friedman said, the world is

becoming flat. Communication, ideas, and

goods are traveling faster and faster

between countries including the US and

China. Learning Chinese gives you the

opportunity to take advantage of

communicating with people on the other

side of the world.

3. Chinese has become a must in government!

The Austrian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd

is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. The US

Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner

studied Chinese and attended Beijing

University. The former Utah Governor,

and former Ambassador to China, Jon

Huntsman is fluent in Chinese

President Obama has pledged to send

100,000 students to China in the next 4

years

4. Chinese Culture!

Chinese culture is over 5000 years

old. By learning the Chinese Language,

you will learn another culture and

another way of looking at the world.

Isn’t it fabulous that you are able to

communicate with one fifth of the people

on this planet with their mother tongue?

5. Learning Chinese will give yourself a

competitive advantage!

Chinese is the fastest growing world

language taught in U. S. Schools. In the state

of Georgia, currently there are about 3000

students learning Chinese. In Fulton Schools

9 schools are currently providing Chinese.

Federal agencies and business leaders are

looking for people who can speak Chinese

and understand the culture.

There are more opportunities for you to

get accepted by your dream college and

obtain scholarships.

Colleges offering Chinese in

Georgia

Georgia Institute of Technology

University of Georgia

Georgia State University

Emory University

Kennesaw State University

University of North Georgia

Georgia Perimeter College

Morehouse College

Spelman College

Some Facts about Chinese

• Chinese has a relatively

uncomplicated grammar. Unlike

French, German or English, Chinese

has no verb conjugation (no need to

memorize verb tenses!) and no noun

declension (e.g., gender and number

distinctions).

Some Facts about Chinese- cont’d

• The basic word order of Chinese is

subject — verb — object, exactly as in

English. A large number of the key terms

of Mandarin Chinese have been formed

as translations of English concepts. You

are entering a different culture and

learning a new language, but the content

of many of the modern key concepts is

familiar.

Classroom activities

Products of Classroom Activities

Products of Classroom Activities – cont’d

Club & Field Trip

Some information on Summer Camps

Chinese Bridge – a two-week summer camp

to China for American High Schools

students (all expenses inside China is

covered by a non-profit organization called

Hanban)

UNG Federal Language Academy – a three-

week summer camp for high school students

to learn critical languages at University of

North Georgia

StarTalk – a two-week summer camp for

high school students to learn critical

languages