Filter by:

Print this page

Happy New Year, in China

Students in Mandarin Chinese classes celebrate New Year for 15 days

By LEEANN MOORE

Zanesville Times Recorder (Ohio)

January 27, 2009

ZANESVILLE - Carefully and slowly, first-year Mandarin Chinese students at Bishop Fenwick concentrated hard while trying to pick up pieces of popcorn with their chopsticks Monday.

In the back of the classroom, second-year students' chopsticks couldn't go fast enough.

Each student counted each piece by saying the Chinese numbers.

Siena Shirer, a sixth-grader, admitted she isn't very good with chopsticks, but said her Mandarin Chinese class was the best part of her school day.

"I think it'll be useful in my future," Shirer said.

For 15 days, the Mandarin Chinese classes are celebrating the Chinese New Year and learning the customs, like the rituals and foods that go along with the holiday, as part of Catholic Schools Week, a national celebration of Catholic education.

"It's new to them so they're very excited," Principal Mary Walsh said of the first-year students.

Meanwhile, in the hall outside of the classroom, second -year students Frazier Baker, 13, Alex Weingarth, 12, Molly Nash, 13, and Maddy McCarthy, 13, serenaded four Chinese exchange students with the Chinese New Year, or spring festival, song.

"They're awesome," Qinya Guo said. Guo is a senior who has spent her junior and senior years of high school at Bishop Rosecrans High School, with exchange students Jiaqi Dong, 18, Shaofan Zhang, 17, and Jianquang Ran, 17.

"It's more like a family gathering festival," Dong said. "We have traditional food in the evening, we watch TV, there's a big show with fireworks that are very pretty."

All of the students knew that it's the Year of the Ox and the colors are red and yellow.

"They have very specific rituals," Baker said, adding that the most interesting may be the lantern festival on the 15th day.

"They have lanterns all over the cities that are supposed to send any wayward spirits out," he said.

Bishop Fenwick was one of nine diocesan elementary schools in the state in 2007 to be chosen for a federal grant through the Catholic Diocese of Columbus. More than $640,000 was dispersed among the schools to provide the equipment, teacher and facilitator. The grant was provided by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security, but the grant expires at the end of this school year.

Walsh said the school is searching for sponsors to not only continue the program for students, but also offer a night or Saturday morning Mandarin Chinese class for adults.

Students are taught by a teacher via video conference, with the help of Jeff Myers, the classroom facilitator. Myers teaches band and music and music at the high school.

Bishop Fenwick Schools will continue to celebrate Catholic Schools Week this week with service-based activities like meal preparations for Christ's Table, pennies for patients, prayer services, a family fun night and open houses.