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Table of Contents

Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

A Language Art

Jessica Bucknam shouts "tiao!" (tee-ow) and her fourth-grade students jump. "Dun!" (doo-wen) she commands, and they crouch. They giggle as the commands keep coming in Mandarin Chinese. Most of the kids have studied Chinese since they were in kindergarten.

They are part of a Chinese-immersion program at Woodstock Elementary School, in Portland, Oregon. Bucknam, who is from China, introduces her students to approximately 150 new Chinese characters each year. Students read stories, sing songs and learn math and science, all in Chinese.

Half of the 340 students at the K-5 school are enrolled in the program. They can continue studying Chinese in middle and high school. The goal: to speak like natives.

About 24,000 American students are currently learning Chinese. Most are in high school. But the number of younger students is growing in response to China's emergence as a global superpower.

The U.S. government is helping to pay for language instruction. Recently, the Defense Department gave Oregon schools $700,000 for classes like Bucknam's. The Senate is considering giving $1.3 billion for Chinese classes in public schools.

"China has become a strong partner of the United States," says Mary Patterson, Woodstock's principal. "Children who learn Chinese at a young age will have more opportunities for jobs in the future."

Isabel Weiss, 9, isn't thinking about the future. She thinks learning Chinese is fun. "When you hear people speaking in Chinese, you know what they're saying," she says. "And they don't know that you know."

Want to Learn Chinese?
You have to memorize 3,500 characters to really know it all! Start with these Chinese characters and their pronunciations. To hear some words and phrases spoken in this 6,000-year-old language, visit timeforkids.com/mandarin.

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