Why Learn Chinese?
What Do We Do in Our
Chinese Classes?
Jane Zou
Chinese Teacher
Riverwood High School
Ridgeview Middle School
zoux@fultonschools.org
5 Top Reasons to Learn Chinese
1.
To be equipped for future opportunities, by
giving yourself the Chinese Advantage!
- China is the 2nd largest economy in the world.
world.
2. The world is becoming flat in global economy!

As Thomas Friedman said, the world is
becoming flat. Communication, ideas, and
goods are traveling faster and faster
between countries including the US and
China. Learning Chinese gives you the
opportunity to take advantage of
communicating with people on the other
side of the world.
3. Chinese has become a must in government!
The Austrian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd
is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. The US
Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner
studied Chinese and attended Beijing
University. The former Utah Governor,
and former Ambassador to China, Jon
Huntsman is fluent in Chinese
 President Obama has pledged to send
100,000 students to China in the next 4
years

4. Chinese Culture!

Chinese culture is over 5000 years
old. By learning the Chinese Language,
you will learn another culture and
another way of looking at the world.
Isn’t it fabulous that you are able to
communicate with one fifth of the people
on this planet with their mother tongue?
5. Learning Chinese will give yourself a
competitive advantage!



Chinese is the fastest growing world
language taught in U. S. Schools. In the state
of Georgia, currently there are about 3000
students learning Chinese. In Fulton Schools
9 schools are currently providing Chinese.
Federal agencies and business leaders are
looking for people who can speak Chinese
and understand the culture.
There are more opportunities for you to
get accepted by your dream college and
obtain scholarships.
Colleges offering Chinese in
Georgia
Georgia Institute of Technology
 University of Georgia
 Georgia State University
 Emory University
 Kennesaw State University
 University of North Georgia
 Georgia Perimeter College
 Morehouse College
 Spelman College

Some Facts about Chinese
•
Chinese has a relatively
uncomplicated grammar. Unlike
French, German or English, Chinese
has no verb conjugation (no need to
memorize verb tenses!) and no noun
declension (e.g., gender and number
distinctions).
Some Facts about Chinese- cont’d
•
The basic word order of Chinese is
subject — verb — object, exactly as in
English. A large number of the key terms
of Mandarin Chinese have been formed
as translations of English concepts.You
are entering a different culture and
learning a new language, but the content
of many of the modern key concepts is
familiar.
Classroom activities
Products of Classroom Activities
Products of Classroom Activities – cont’d
Club & Field Trip
Some information on Summer Camps



Chinese Bridge – a two-week summer camp
to China for American High Schools
students (all expenses inside China is
covered by a non-profit organization called
Hanban)
UNG Federal Language Academy – a threeweek summer camp for high school students
to learn critical languages at University of
North Georgia
StarTalk – a two-week summer camp for
high school students to learn critical
languages