Schools
Senator Durbin Visits Local Elementary School
Senator Durbin visits Barbara Rose Elementary School for Chinese immersion grant.
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Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language on the planet with approximately one billion speakers. With that in mind, the Barrington 220 School District has launched a groundbreaking program designed to produce fluent Mandarin speakers when their current first graders graduate college.
Those first graders at Barbara Rose Elementary School, along with students from the district’s middle and high schools demonstrated their skills during a visit from Senator Richard J. Durbin, the assistant majority leader in the Senate on Friday.
Durbin was there to officially present the school with a grant of $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance Program. The five year program made possible by the federal grant will develop a Chinese immersion program in partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Barrington School district is the only one in Illinois to receive this grant this year, one of 22 nation wide.
The Senator spoke briefly about the need to educate students with a global focus. “The world is shrinking,” he said.
Durbin also noted that Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world and touched on the importance of exposing children early in life to its study, not simply because fluency will provide an important edge in the future but because young children find it easier to assimilate a language. “I wish I had learned a language earlier in my life,” he said.
After Durbin’s short speech, he turned the program over to Todd Bowen, Department Chair of World Language for the district, but not before questioning him about the Chinese words on his tie. Jennifer Lu, who teaches Mandarin at the middle and high school levels in the district stepped up to interpret the timely message. “Whatever we do today, don’t measure your achievements in current time. Think about your achievement in the future,” she said.
Bowen then explained that the immersion program would continue from kindergarten to grade 16. “Our kindergartners and first graders will spend 50 percent of the day learning in Chinese next fall,” he said. “That program will grow through fifth grade and the sixth grader will go on to traditional language studies at the appropriate grade level, so when they’re ready to go to University they can continue their studies at the advanced level.”
The first graders entered the school library single file, accompanied by their teacher Megan Brennan, and sat on risers as Lu took them through their Mandarin paces. The children called out answers to questions posed in Mandarin in the same language and played language-learning games.
Later, first grade students Saumya Gulati, Amani Alvi and Mark Zambrzycki admitted to some nerves, even though they weren’t completely sure of Senator’s Durbin’s job description.
South Barrington’s village president Frank J. Munao, Jr. and Superintendent, Tom Leonard, attended along with members of the school board, teachers, and officials from The University of Illinois.
A reception was held after the event where Principal Scott Carlson, who is attempting to learn the language on his own, commented on the afternoon’s activities. “We wanted to out on our best face (for the Senator),” he said. “And we’re very pleased he took time out of his schedule to visit us.”
“We’re definitely embarking on a journey of uncharted territory. It’s going to be a real leap of faith for the parents and some of the teachers,” he added. “And we’ll be far more effective as educators as a result.”
Those first graders at Barbara Rose Elementary School, along with students from the district’s middle and high schools demonstrated their skills during a visit from Senator Richard J. Durbin, the assistant majority leader in the Senate on Friday.
Durbin was there to officially present the school with a grant of $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance Program. The five year program made possible by the federal grant will develop a Chinese immersion program in partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Barrington School district is the only one in Illinois to receive this grant this year, one of 22 nation wide.
The Senator spoke briefly about the need to educate students with a global focus. “The world is shrinking,” he said.
Durbin also noted that Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world and touched on the importance of exposing children early in life to its study, not simply because fluency will provide an important edge in the future but because young children find it easier to assimilate a language. “I wish I had learned a language earlier in my life,” he said.
After Durbin’s short speech, he turned the program over to Todd Bowen, Department Chair of World Language for the district, but not before questioning him about the Chinese words on his tie. Jennifer Lu, who teaches Mandarin at the middle and high school levels in the district stepped up to interpret the timely message. “Whatever we do today, don’t measure your achievements in current time. Think about your achievement in the future,” she said.
Bowen then explained that the immersion program would continue from kindergarten to grade 16. “Our kindergartners and first graders will spend 50 percent of the day learning in Chinese next fall,” he said. “That program will grow through fifth grade and the sixth grader will go on to traditional language studies at the appropriate grade level, so when they’re ready to go to University they can continue their studies at the advanced level.”
The first graders entered the school library single file, accompanied by their teacher Megan Brennan, and sat on risers as Lu took them through their Mandarin paces. The children called out answers to questions posed in Mandarin in the same language and played language-learning games.
Later, first grade students Saumya Gulati, Amani Alvi and Mark Zambrzycki admitted to some nerves, even though they weren’t completely sure of Senator’s Durbin’s job description.
South Barrington’s village president Frank J. Munao, Jr. and Superintendent, Tom Leonard, attended along with members of the school board, teachers, and officials from The University of Illinois.
A reception was held after the event where Principal Scott Carlson, who is attempting to learn the language on his own, commented on the afternoon’s activities. “We wanted to out on our best face (for the Senator),” he said. “And we’re very pleased he took time out of his schedule to visit us.”
“We’re definitely embarking on a journey of uncharted territory. It’s going to be a real leap of faith for the parents and some of the teachers,” he added. “And we’ll be far more effective as educators as a result.”
