With the new school year, the partnership between Rocky Mount Academy and the Beijing Haidian Foreign Language School, which is also known as Haiwai, continues to flourish and grow. Along with sending students to RMA, Haiwai sends teachers each semester from their school to live with the children and to be in the classrooms. They have a very crucial role as these changes could potentially be difficult for these children, who range from third to fifth grade. The new students have started adjusting to their new homes, friends, classrooms, and American culture as a whole. This smooth transition was made possible partially by the foresight of administrators from both RMA and Haiwai to get accurate professional transcription services.

One new and very exciting aspect of this partnership recently began in third, fourth and fifth grade classrooms last week. Students are being introduced to a new and very difficult foreign language, Standard Mandarin. Taught by two Chinese speaking teachers, the weekly sessions expose students to the language of which they have begun to learn the basics. Before students are able to move on to more complicated aspects of the language such as its written form, symbols, it is critical that there is a strong foundation present. For this reason, all three grade levels are currently on the third grade curriculum. For example, a key truth when learning Mandarin is understanding how the language heavily relies on pitch and tone of voice over others. Where we (American English) rely on vowels and other devices, they focus on how the language is spoken and the message you are able to convey with your voice. Also, the students are currently focused on learning how to count, learning the parts of the body and other basics in Mandarin.

When asked about their new Chinese language classes, students are very enthusiastic to talk about it. Third grader Caroline Epps said “I like Mandarin better than Spanish. I practice speaking in the car after school so much that my brother tells me to stop.” Fifth grader Greyson Thorne said that if she was in high school and had to choose between taking Mandarin, French and Spanish, she would choose Mandarin.

RMA students have been practicing and soaking in all of the new knowledge and according to Head of Lower School, Martha Lancaster, the children want to know and learn more of the language. The program becomes successful when learning can carry over from the classroom into real life, which it has certainly done within only a couple of weeks. The lower schoolers will sit at lunch and discuss language with their Chinese friends. Along with happy students, Rocky Mount Academy parents are very satisfied with this new curriculum that their kids are involved in. We live in a global world where language is often the key, and RMA wants their students to be fully prepared for whatever comes their way. Students have weekly 35 minute Chinese language classes in which the grades meet as a combined classroom. The only other time all of third, fourth or fifth grade meets all together is for P.E. so this is another opportunity for students to interact and learn together which is very important. The ultimate goal of this program is to reach the point of differentiation between the grade curriculums and for students to learn as much Mandarin as possible in grades 3,4 and 5. As time goes on, hopefully Mandarin can be offered in higher levels in upper school.