To offer lessons in Chinese, school nets new resident expert
If you wanted someone to teach Chinese to elementary schoolchildren, what's the obvious place to look?
The Richard K. Murphy K-8 School seems to have figured it out. For the second time this year, the Dorchester school has received a teacher from the Chinese Guest Teacher Program, which is sponsored by the College Board and China's Office of Chinese Language Council International.
The goal of the program, which brought 64 teachers to the United States on Aug. 3, is to educate American students about Chinese culture and language, said College Board officials.
The Murphy School was selected for the program because it was interested in developing a Mandarin program, according to the school's principal, Mary Russo. "This is a wonderful and economical way to build a Chinese language program in our school," she said.
In January, the Murphy School received its first teacher from the program, Niu Tao, who works with students in grades 1 to 5. The newest arrival, Xiao Yang Gou, will work with students in grades 6 to 8. Both will serve 18-month stints as teachers.
"In order to host a Chinese teacher it involves real community involvement," said Russo. "Parents found apartments for the teachers and members of the community donated a television and furniture. It was a collective effort."
Russo says that in light of China's growing population and economy, students will be well served to understand Chinese culture.
"The students have taken to the new program amazingly well." she said. "It is really exciting for me and to hear the children singing in Chinese."
MICHAEL CORCORAN 