Grosse Pointes

A lesson in Chinese, friendship

By April Lehmbeck
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTES — Audrey Kam’s pen pal sent her a picture of a cat he domesticated, calling it a cute kitten that he plays with each day after school.

He told her he likes the cat because he doesn’t enjoy being lonely, which sounds a lot like something many teens in America might say. Yet, Kam’s pen pal isn’t from America. He lives in China.

And they don’t write the old-fashioned kind of letters — you know, with pen and paper. These 21st century pen pals communicate mostly on email.

Kam, a student in a Chinese class at Grosse Pointe North and other Grosse Pointe students in the Chinese language program in the district are getting a chance to know someone more than halfway around the world, as well as to practice their growing skills in a new language.

“They’re not really so different from us,” Kam said of her pen pal experience. “They’re just in a different place.”

They chat about their families, their hobbies and what their days are like in school and home.

Grosse Pointe Public School System officials have worked to grow the Chinese program in the district and expose students to the culture, as well.

Chinese language teacher Yue Ming teaches at the district’s high schools and also is a professor at Wayne State University. She visits the Grosse Pointe middle and elementary schools with clubs and programs that foster interest in Chinese and China from an early age. It’s something the younger students enjoy.

The district has middle school students who come over to the high schools to start their Chinese language classes, as well.

“They don’t want to wait,” Ming said. “Some parents feel the Chinese language is so important in the future.”

That’s fine with Ming because she knows that “with a language, the earlier you start it, the better,” she said.

“It’s fun, and that’s how you can grab the students,” said district Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Assessment, Instruction and Technology Monique Beels. “When you’re interested in something, you want to learn it.

“Dr. Ming is doing a marvelous job,” she said.

In the middle school club, the students can learn about Chinese culture, watch Chinese movies, eat Chinese food and play ping-pong.

“Students enjoy playing ping- pong,” Ming said.

“It’s a really good experience to be able to learn about a culture that’s so different than our own,” said North student Keelia Hamdan.

Ming does have some challenges in the language classes because there are classes that sometimes have multiple levels of students in the room, with first-year students alongside advanced students. So she has to work with the new students while keeping the advanced students challenged and progressing.

Ming worked with the district’s sister school in China to set students up with teens to write for the pen pal project. Part of the e-letters are written in English and part in Chinese, which allows the students from both countries to practice the other language.

“They are so eager to write to each other,” Ming said.

They also send each other photos of their families, labeling the people in each picture.

“They get to know each other better,” Ming said. “The students enjoy doing that.

“They love to share their own pictures,” she said. “The Chinese students in our sister school, they are really delighted. … They become friends.”

The students can type Chinese characters on any computer by changing a computer setting, which is something Ming said many parents are surprised to discover.

Tess Kolp, one of Ming’s students at North, said she liked being able to use the Internet to correspond with her pen pal because it’s so much faster than writing out by hand and mailing a letter.

Ming believes that it’s good to have the students practice their new language in a practical way, like through the online letters, because it helps them retain it.

“It’s fun obviously to talk in both languages,” Kolp said.

The teens also are able to correct each other to help them improve.

“I feel like it’s eye-opening,” said Anushri Subramaniam, a student studying Chinese at North, about corresponding with a teen in China.

Later in the year, the two schools are planning to chat over Skype. It presents some challenges due to the time difference, but they are determined to make it work.

Some of the students started with another language, such as Spanish or French, but moved on to study Chinese. They said it can be tougher than some languages because other languages can be read by a non-native speaker even without knowing what the words mean.

“I think Chinese is one of the only spoken languages left that is kind of an art form,” Kam said.

The students in Ming’s class said they also wanted to learn Chinese because they believe it will be an increasingly important language in the future, giving them knowledge that will help them succeed in their lives.

“It’s good for college because China is going to pass our economy in 10 years, so we’ll get a lot of jobs,” student Alison Alexsy said.

It’s not just students who take part in the opportunities the Chinese program offers, either. Teachers and administrators in the district occasionally visit China, spending time in the country’s schools, sharing ideas and learning from one another.

During recent years, Ming has traveled to China with some of the district’s administrators and teachers, including a recent trip last November.

Beels went on the November trip.

“I learned so much when I went to China,” she said. “The visit was to strengthen our ties.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer April Lehmbeck at alehmbeck@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1043.