Chinese is a complex language...thousands of characters to memorize, four tones to master, and many years of study to become fluent. Most students opt for a more familiar tongue like Spanish or French, si? oui? 对吗?
A group of teens across four school districts in the Puget Sound region want to encourage more students to take on the rewarding challenge of learning Chinese, and they aren’t waiting for educators to show the way. They have turned the question “Why Learn Chinese” into a competition for middle and high school students across the state. Students don’t need to know Chinese to participate because entries must be in English.
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| From left, WACE co-chairs Kevin Li, Andrea Liu and members Wayne Huang (standing), Alex Liu, and Ashwin Rao |
Masterminds behind the competition are members of a student-run nonprofit organization, the Washington Association for Chinese Education (WACE), co-founded and co-chaired by Andrea Liu and Kevin Li, seniors at Skyline High School in Sammamish.
From October 1–31, students statewide may submit (online) a brief essay, video, poem, or song to WACE, to be judged by a panel of educators and China experts. Six finalists will receive cash awards and plaques.
The Seattle Chinese Garden is proud to host the awards ceremony on November 19.
“Our goal is to generate interest in learning Chinese so students will gain the competitive edge and the global perspective needed to succeed in today’s increasingly interdependent world,” said Liu, who was born and raised in Virginia but lived in Beijing and Chongqing during her middle school years.
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WACE Co-Chairs Andrea Liu and Kevin Li
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“We want to help students understand China, because in the future they will be responsible for maintaining the growing economic, political, and cultural ties between the US and China,” Li said. “Only 22 public high schools in Washington offer Chinese and our goal is to encourage more schools to do so.”
Governor Christine Gregoire has applauded WACE for its commitment to educating students about the benefit of learning Chinese, “for young people to not only recognize the importance of language capacity, but also to exercise leadership in promoting it is truly inspiring.”
In addition to the Seattle Chinese Garden, more than a dozen organizations are endorsing the competition, including the Washington State China Relations Council, Chinese Language Teachers Association, Confucius Institute of Washington, Seattle-Chongqing Sister City Association, Hong Kong Association of Washington, and Microsoft CHIME.
For more information, please visit: WACE
Posting by Sandy Marvinney
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