Mandarin language course set for Mundelein High

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Updated: April 22, 2012 1:15AM

Responding to significant interest from students, Mundelein High School will be adding Chinese to its foreign language curriculum beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

Anthony Kroll, director of curriculum and instruction at the high school, said the district has been looking at increasing program offerings in the world languages area. The new Mandarin Chinese program will be the third foreign language offered, which currently has full-language programs in Spanish and French.

Before making the decision, Kroll said the school district considered three potential new language offerings: Chinese, Latin and Arabic. Students were surveyed to see which language offering appealed to them.

“Forty-seven percent of our students in the survey said that they had an interest in taking Chinese,” he said. “With that type of student response, it seemed like the best choice.”

A number of high schools in the area already offer Chinese as part of their foreign language programs, including Stevenson, Barrington, Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Lake Forest, Highland Park and Deerfield.

Kroll said Chinese also seemed like a logical choice because it’s the second mostly widely spoken language in the world behind English and appeals to students who are looking at careers in international business.

“China is a big global competitor and the U.S. does a lot of international business with China,” said Stacey Gorman, social studies and World Languages Department chair at Mundelein High. “Mandarin Chinese is also becoming one of the most popular languages on the Internet.”

Gorman said knowledge of Chinese opens up potential career opportunities for students who are interested in jobs in industry, government, teaching and research positions. The U.S. Defense and State Departments have also reported a shortage of employees who are fluent in certain languages important to national security including Chinese and Arabic, she said.

Initial response from the student population has been extremely positive as more than 100 students have already signed up for the Chinese language program for the fall semester.

“A lot of the students have said they’re excited about it,” Gorman said. “Some of our students are interested in careers in international business and knowledge of Chinese would help them in achieving that goal. Some students would also like to travel to China and they’d like to learn the language and more about the Chinese culture.”

The new MHS program will be a Level 1 course, which will introduce students to the foundations of Mandarin Chinese through speaking, writing, listening and reading. Students will learn the tones of the language as well as the characters and correct stroke order and they will also be exposed to the various cultures that constitute Chinese- speaking countries.

The new Chinese language program has received some initial start-up funding from a grant the school applied for and received through the Illinois State Board of Education. The $16,000 grant will be used primarily for curriculum writing and staff development for the program, Kroll said.

During the first year, Kroll anticipates the program will cost the school district less than $75,000, with the major district expense being the hiring of a new teacher. The teacher who is hired must be fluent in Chinese in both the written and oral language, and must have an Illinois teaching certificate.

Kroll said he hopes to have a teacher hired for the position by April after which the district will host an open house to introduce the teacher to parents and students.