Schools
New Chinese Language Program Celebrated
Manhattan Beach Middle School receives a plaque from the Confucius Institute for the successful implementation of Chinese I for seventh graders this year.
Students performed songs as Manhattan Beach Middle School celebrated the success of its Chinese language program on Tuesday. Representatives from the Confucius Institute at San Diego State University awarded the school with a plaque and other gifts.
Two years ago, school district officials began to develop and implement a Chinese language program after conducting a study that revealed similar level middle schools were offering Asian languages in their curriculum.
"It's a process whereby those who submit grants have to be reviewed through the local Confucius Institute and eventually the education department in China," said Carolyn Seaton, executive director of Educational Services for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.
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Today, the school employs Shelly Liu and assistant Sabrina Geng to teach the Chinese level I classes. So far, the seventh-graders have welcomed the challenge of learning Chinese.
"Once you learn a few characters and you get used to writing the strokes, it's really easy," said seventh-grader Sean Syed.
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MBMS plans to increase Chinese classes to four as seventh-graders enter the eighth grade next school year, Seaton said.
