South Whittier School District students participated in a Chinese Language Vocabulary Contest and closing ceremony on Tuesday, May 7, at McKibben Elementary. Students who participated took Chinese language classes that are created to help promote bilingual education and bi-literacy for students.
Students took part in 9 sessions of Chinese classes and ended the course with a Chinese Vocabulary Contest. During the contest students were given an English word that they had to translate and say in Chinese. There was a contest for elementary students who participated in the classes and another contest for middle school students.
South Whittier School District Superintendent, Dr. Gary Gonzales, was in attendance and spoke to students and attendees expressing his pride in students for taking this course. He went on to talk about how studies have shown that bi-literacy has a positive impact on student education.
Many students who participated in this program are already bilingual speakers and are now becoming trilingual through this program.
Attendees also got to see displays of photos and work that students have done through out the course and students even performed a popular Chinese dance that they learned.
After the contest was over the Mandarin Master was awarded a medal and certificate and all students got a certificate of participation and enjoyed pizza and refreshments.
The Chinese language classes are coordinated by the California Association for Bilingual Education, or better known as CABE, from Whittier. They brought Phd and MA TESOL, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, candidates from Pepperdine University to teach South Whittier School District students Chinese.