Confucius classroom enlightens Canadian students on Chinese culture

Chinese voices are increasingly being heard in Coquitlam, British Columbia, through the Confucius Classroom program where 450 local residents, young and old, are currently studying Mandarin at a conversation level.

On Tuesday in the Vancouver suburb city, the program, which is funded by the Chinese government through the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban) took a major step when it unveiled a major acquisition sure to benefit thousands of Canadians for years to come.

At a presentation held at the Coquitlam Public Library's Poirier branch, staff displayed just a small amount of the 1 million Canadian dollars of Chinese books, DVDs and dictionaries that have been donated by China to be placed in local high schools and libraries.

In addition, four multimedia 50-inch touch-screen display units have been donated through Hanban grant money to help promote the Chinese language message through a fun and interactive approach. Three of the 10,000 Canadian dollar units will be used in the Confucius Classroom program and the other by the Coquitlam Public Library.

With the Mandarin classes currently taking place Friday and Saturday, the students are divided into three groups of ages four to 10, 11 to 16 and 17 and up. In addition to having fun, the main focus of the program is to "experience, learn and grow with the language and to explore the traditional history and dynamic culture of China."

Patricia Gartland, director of international education for Coquitlam School District, said the program was the only one of its kinds in British Columbia. Launched in February 2009, the Confucius Classroom came about through a connection with Guangzhou's South China Normal University who applied to Hanban on their behalf.

About 80 countries currently offer the program.

"As soon as we heard about the program, we wanted to offer it right away," said Gartland who also acts as the Confucius Classroom chairman of the board and principal. "The reception (to offering the program) is tremendous."

"We know that in the new global reality it's extremely important for everyone to acquire additional languages. The more additional languages (spoken), the better in terms of participating actively in the world and understanding the world and our own local community as well as the world communities."

With the success of the initial classes, starting in September the Coquitlam School Board will begin a grassroots program where two elementary schools will offer Chinese classes, one to a kindergarten class, and the other to a grade one class. The students will study Mandarin and English for a half day each.

"In terms of any additional language acquisition it is always better to commence studies at a younger age. This is in terms of speed of acquisition and ultimate language fluency and pronunciation. So the younger a person is when they learn a language the more fluent they will be in that language. Their brain will also be more flexible in terms of acquiring that language and other languages," Gartland said.

"We know that in this global reality everyone needs to know additional languages, as many languages as possible. Mandarin is one of the important world languages for business and any kind of social activity in our world."

Shirley Chan, a Hong Kong migrant who works as the Coquitlam Library's multicultural services librarian, has been given the task of going through and chronicling the thousands of news books and DVDs that were delivered from China in a shipping container.

They included such well-known titles as "The Red Detachment of Women" and "Story of Mulan", among others, but also books on Chinese cooking, calligraphy, culture, World Heritage sites, history, as well as dictionaries and idioms and set phrases.

"It's a very good cross-section of China past and present," Chan said. "There's stuff here not only for Chinese people, but also for people who want to learn Chinese. It's a good way to learn through these wonderful books and DVDs and all these learning materials as well."

"We really appreciate Hanban that donated all those wonderful books to us. We really appreciate their generous donation."

Richard Stewart, the mayor of Coquitlam, a 125,000-population city about 10 kilometers east of Vancouver proper, added the donation would go a long way to spreading the knowledge and understanding of China in the community.

Coquitlam's Chinese community numbers about 15,000.

"Our community is one of the most multicultural in the world. We celebrate the fact that people have come from all corners of the world to live here," said Stewart of the municipality, a sister city to Laizhou in Yantai, Shandong province.

"It (the Confucius Classroom program) reflects the fact that our connections with China are enormous. Not only the people who live here who have Chinese backgrounds, but also the fact that we are Canada's Pacific Rim community and this fosters that understanding of China and that this century will be centered in the Pacific rather than the Atlantic. I look forward to improving the understanding of cultures across the Pacific and this is one excellent opportunity. We are certainly appreciative of it."