新汉普郡中文学校吸引大量的汉语语言的学生

New Hampshire Chinese Language School Attracts Non-Chinese Students

新汉普郡中文学校吸引大量的汉语语言的学生

 

More than a billion people speak some dialect of Chinese. Millions of them live outside China. In some U.S. metropolitan¹ areas, like New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C, that are home to large communities of Chinese immigrants, it is easy to find schools that offer Chinese language courses. But even in cities like Nashua and Manchester, New Hampshire, where Asian immigrants are just a tiny percentage of the population, there is a demand for learning Chinese… and a school to meet that demand.

 

Desiree Wong got the idea of founding a Chinese school five years ago, when she moved from Arizona to New Hampshire with her husband and 5-year-old son.

 

Desiree Wong: I had been teaching him Chinese since he was 3 years old. But I wanted him to go to a formal classroom and see so many people also learning Chinese. So it would motivate him to learn. That's when I had the idea. I wanted to start a school just because there wasn't any Chinese school, at that time in New Hampshire.

 

But actually turning her dream into reality was not easy.

 

Desiree Wong: I didn't know anybody, I had to work. I did find a job in Boston, Massachusetts. So I had to commute² for 5 or 6 hours a day just on the road to go to work, back and forth³. I didn't get time to get my thoughts together and set up the school at that time. When I really had a serious thought about having this school during the summer time last year, I had to call about 30 or 40 places just to find a space to get the school going. It was pretty tough because we couldn't afford to pay a lot of rent.

 

Luckily, Ms. Wong says, a local community learning center in Nashua offered her an affordable⁴ space last year. A few months later, the non-profit Chinese school expanded to the campus of Southern New Hampshire University in nearby Manchester.

 

Desiree Wong: We have pre-school age group. Generally speaking, they start from 2 ½ and 3 years old to 5 years old. We have an elementary age group, from anywhere from 5 to 11, 12 years old. Depending on how mature they are they can actually go to pre-teen age group. We have another group, adult/teen, adults and teens together attending the classes.

 

The New Hampshire Chinese School offers year-round instruction in Mandarin⁵ and Cantonese.

 

24 year old Renee Wong, -- no relation to the school's founder⁶ -- teaches Cantonese at the Manchester campus. Ms. Wong says her immigrant parents insisted she learn Chinese, speak the language at home and celebrate every Chinese event. Although she resented it as a child, she says now, she appreciates what they did.

 

Renee Wong: It's a really rich culture. There is a lot of history and there is a lot of people that speak Chinese in this world.

 

The teacher says she tries to keep her students engaged by turning each class into a party, where in addition to learning language skills, her students practice calligraphy⁷ and try their hand at other traditional Chinese arts like painting and paper-folding.

 

Renee Wong: I have a class of four students. They are all at the beginner level. We play a lot of games. People start having fun and give me feedback like what they want to learn. I'm very encouraged by their enthusiasm. They want to go to school. They want to learn.

 

Classes at the New Hampshire Chinese School have attracted a variety of students. School founder Desiree Wong says that has exceeded her expectations.

 

Desiree Wong: Half, if not more that half of our students, are from-non Chinese families. Those include non-Chinese families that adopt kids from China. We also have adult students that are from the business world. Half of them are already doing business with China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The other half of the students that are non-Chinese and want to learn would be those who had been to China. They love the culture and the language, or they have friends that are Chinese and they want to continue learning.

 

Stockbroker⁸ Andrew Fitzgerald, 26, belongs to this latter group. He lived in China three years ago.

 

Andrew Fitzgerald: It was a lot of fun. It's probably the most interesting experiences that I've had. It'd be nice if I could use that and get to go back to China as the markets open up a little bit more, but it's not my main goal now. It's a personal interest, and mostly for myself. I'm just kind of refreshing⁹ and trying to remember most of what I forgot. But it's definitely the hardest language I've ever studied.

 

New Hampshire Chinese School founder Desiree Wong doesn't surprise that. But, she says, combining old and new instruction techniques has made it easier for determined¹⁰ students to master Chinese. She says with today's increasingly competitive job markets in America and around the world, learning a foreign language, especially Chinese, might become a requirement for success in business in the near future.

 

I’m Faith Lupdis.

 

注释：

dialect [5daiElekt] n. 方言；土语

metropolitan [metrE5pRlit(E)n] adj. 大城市的，大都会的

tiny [5taini] adj. 很少的，微小的

motivate [5mEutiveit] v. 激发，促进

commute [kE5mju:t] vi. 每天往返上班；定期往返于两地间

elementary [7eli5mentEri] adj. 初步的，基本的

Mandarin [5mAndErin] n. 普通话

Cantonese [7kAntE5ni:z] n. 广东话

calligraphy [kE5li^rEfi] n. 书法

feedback [5fi:dbAk] n. 反馈

enthusiasm [in5Wju:ziAzEm] n. 狂热，热情

stockbroker [5stRkbrEukE(r)] n. 证券经纪人；股票经纪人

1 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

2 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 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。

6 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

7 calligraphy   

n.书法

参考例句：

• At the calligraphy competition,people asked him to write a few characters.书法比赛会上，人们请他留字。
• His calligraphy is vigorous and forceful.他的书法苍劲有力。

8 stockbroker   

n.股票（或证券），经纪人（或机构）

参考例句：

• The main business of stockbroker is to help clients buy and sell shares.股票经纪人的主要业务是帮客户买卖股票。
• My stockbroker manages my portfolio for me.我的证券经纪人替我管理投资组合。

9 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。