Chinesewings.com 2005/05/05

　　Conscious of the competition ahead, students in America have been fighting for the opportunity to learn Mandarin. At Dulles High School in Texas, the roster for Advance Mandarin Level 5 begins with Jason Chao and ends with Kathy Zhang. However, between these two Asian names appear a foreign one: Elizabeth Hoffman.
　　Elizabeth Hoffman is currently a senior in high school. She began her studies in Mandarin in eight grade and has attended summer camp in Nanjing. She plans to continue to improve her skills in Mandarin even after the start of college. When asked by fellow classmates who chose Spanish as a secondary language why she chose Mandarin, Elizabeth replied, “Why not?”
　　Members of the American government and its educational system have begun to express Elizabeth’s sentiments as China advances toward becoming a world superpower. At the start of 2005, Republican Rush Holt from New Jersey proposed establishing more courses and programs of formerly ignored languages. He says, “Due to security, economic and political concerns, we should have a further understanding of the Mandarin language and its colloquialisms.” America’s Department of State has declared Mandarin to be a language of utmost importance. However, numbers indicate that out of the 1.3 billion Mandarin speakers in the world, America only has 24,000 middle and high school students learning the language. Compared to French, America has over one million middle and high school students learning the language out of 75 million French speakers worldwide.
　　However, the number of students learning Mandarin has still been increasing to an extent. At a public school in Chicago, the number of students who selected Mandarin has jumped from 500 in 1999 to 3500 in 2005. These students are mainly Caucasian, African-American or Latin. In the same time period mentioned above, figures increased fourfold in Santa Clara County, California. In 2007, the College Board plans to offer examinations in Mandarin and Italian. When the time comes, the number of high schools instructing in Advanced Mandarin will increase tenfold to 2400 schools.
　　The reason behind all these actions lies in China’s ever-increasing competitive ability. “People constantly evaluate the usefulness of each language in the future,” says Marty Abbot, Director of Education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). After Russia launched the first manmade satellite in 1957 and Japan’s economy quickly accelerated in the 1970s, funds for learning Russian and Japanese suddenly increased. The numbers grow perceptibly year by year. At the Monte Vista High School in California, fellow student Stephanie Wong chose to learn Mandarin to be able to communicate with her grandfather. (In America, Mandarin has surpassed French and Italian to become the third most popular language, after English and Spanish.) Stephanie Wong predicts that if she fulfills her dreams of becoming a doctor, Mandarin will certainly come in handy in her hometown, which is comprised of 80% Asian.
　　Jule Donson says, “If I can pique their interest on Mandarin, then they’ll have a competitive advantage that no one has.” Her two sons, a 8 and a 9 year old, have already begun their education in Mandarin. Ms. Donson’s kids attend the PotoMac School in Potomac, Maryland where over 30% of the students, starting from kindergarten, begin Natural Sciences and Math under Mandarin guidance.
　　The next challenge in the process would be to find sufficient teachers to supply the increasing demand. However, requirements of an American teaching certificate and fluent English might prohibit the native Chinese from qualifying for the job. Furthermore, teachers are required to formulate their own teaching material and course content. In spite of all these difficulties, teachers such as Ms. Sarah Ting from Dulles High School in Texas keep on assiduously teaching the language. Her students have increased from 50 in 1998 to a present 200.