2017年CRI Language teacher to Trump's granddaughter devoted to spreading Chinese culture

 

Zhao Danchen, one of the Chinese language teachers of U.S. President Donald Trump¹'s granddaughter Arabella Kushner, says she is proud of her student and hopes to use her teaching efforts to expand not only Chinese language, but also China's unique culture. 

CRI's Li Yi has the story.

When Trump visited Beijing earlier this month, his six-year-old granddaughter, Arabella, went viral on Chinese social media. 

During a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump played a video of his granddaughter singing and reciting traditional poems in Mandarin². 

Now, Arabella has become something of a star in China and a little ambassador between China and the United States. 

Arabella's Chinese-language teacher, Zhao Danchen, says she has high confidence in her student. 

"I was really proud for sure, like all of us are proud. We know deeply in our heart that she is one of our students and whatever she did was beautiful in front of President Xi. And I am really happy and I know for sure that she can do that. So it was not really surprising to me, but I was just really happy," said Zhao.

After Zhao received her degree in applied³ linguistics⁴ from Columbia University, she began working at Carousel⁵ of Languages School in New York. 

She tutored Arabella for about eight months starting last year. 

Their lessons included songs, conversations and story-telling. In addition, Arabella's two brothers are also taking Mandarin lessons at the school. 

"I love the fact that they are starting learning and that's always one of my dream because Chinese students fight so much to learn English for so many years and it's really great to see that I am able to kind of spread it out, spread not only the language but also the culture, also everything about China. To put a little seed in their heart and to make it grow eventually. So I hope more and more kids can come to realize not just to learn the language but also try to understand another culture," said Zhao. 

There are more than 400 students learning foreign languages in the school. A quarter of them are learning Chinese. 

Patrizia Saraceni Corman, CEO of Carousel of Languages School, says it's a huge investment in education.

"I would say Mandarin has become more and more popular, because clearly there's an enormous trend right now with the Chinese market and also it's a huge investment in education. So the foreign language study is really about the investment in their child's education," said Corman.

The two young members of the U.S. first family are joining a growing list of American celebrities⁶ including Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Malia Obama, former President Barack Obama's daughter who take Chinese as their second language.

The followers⁷ of the world's oldest written language are not confined to key public figures. 

U.S. statistics show Chinese is the third most popular language in the country, only behind English and Spanish.

For CRI, this is Li Yi. 

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

5 carousel   

n.旋转式行李输送带

参考例句：

• Riding on a carousel makes you feel dizzy.乘旋转木马使你头晕。
• We looked like a bunch of awkward kids riding a slow-moving carousel.我们看起来就像一群骑在旋转木马上的笨拙的孩子。

6 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

7 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。