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Paul VI Chinese course opens doors

Mary Stachyra Lopez | Catholic Herald

Chinese language students at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax work on a calligraphy assignment in class last year.

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It’s no secret that China increasingly has influenced
American life over the last few decades. With imports
totaling more than $426 billion in 2014, the typical American
shopper would be hard-pressed to make a trip to any retail
store without finding a “Made in China” label. In this global
economy, employers need people who speak and understand
Chinese.

So when Tom McLean, a board member at Paul VI Catholic High
School, proposed that the school offer a course in Chinese,
the school administration saw a great opportunity for alumni
to stand out in the workplace. In 2013, Paul VI became the
first school in the Arlington Diocese to offer a Chinese
language course.

“One of the benefits is when you do look at the resume of
someone who understands Chinese, that sets them apart,” said
McLean, who works as director of international communications
for Boeing. Knowing how to speak the language opened doors
for him to spend time living and working in China, Boeing’s
biggest market outside the United States.

“At Boeing and with other big U.S. corporations, we see the
potential that China has and how quickly it has grown,”
McLean said. Students fluent in Chinese can find unique
opportunities to work in trade or the U.S. government after
college, he said.

That kind of potential has attracted students, like junior
Kevin O’Callaghan, to enroll in the class. “Chinese is a very
relevant language today,” O’Callaghan said. “I had finished
taking Spanish and chose to take Chinese instead of German or
Latin because of its usefulness, if you will. I want to work
in the military or government after graduation.”

Students spend 55 minutes a day learning “survival
expressions” for daily life and travel, correct
pronunciation, Chinese characters and cultural heritage. To
keep students engaged, teacher Liangyan Wang likes to mix in
fun activities like Ping-Pong (hugely popular in China),
calligraphy and making dumplings for the Chinese New Year.
The average class size is 10 or 11 students.

“Chinese is a challenge and a different language, so that’s
the perfect size for a class,” Wang said. “Students can talk
to me individually and I can work with them on their needs.”

One-on-one time can prove particularly important for a course
like Chinese, with its own characters that are “more like
drawing a picture than learning a word,” Wang said. Even
vocabulary can be a challenge – the wrong pronunciation can
completely change the meaning of a word. Some students are
intimidated by the idea of even enrolling in the course
because they’re afraid it could hurt their GPA, she said.

“Some students may think that Chinese is difficult and it
will drop their grade. But I’d encourage them to give it a
try,” she said. “Embrace the challenge.”

McLean’s daughter, Kathleeen, is one of the students
embracing the challenge.

“It’s a lot more studying, but the teacher is very good,”
said Kathleen, a junior. “She knows that it’s a hard language
for English speakers to take. She goes slow and makes sure
that nobody gets left behind.”

Seven students will have a “real world” opportunity to put
what they learned to the test this spring – by visiting
China. Wang will take them to see the Forbidden City in
Beijing and terracotta warriors in Xi’an, as well as Jin Mao
Tower in Shanghai. The students will use their language
skills when they visit a local school and meet a local
family.

“China’s such a big part of history,” said Kathleen. “Now we
get to learn about it and actually go and see it.”

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