November 1st, 2014 marks the first day of BUCCF's newest program. The free Mandarin Class offers young children the opportunity to learn basic Chinese that they are unable to learn at home. For the Fall of 2014, these classes will be offered every Saturday from 3PM to 4PM at Boston University.
Although each year, there has been talk about creating Chinese Classes for children interested, Joanna Poon, Co-Vice President of BUCCF took the reins and worked hard to try to make it come together this year. Despite still being in the very early stages of planning, Joanna talks about her motivation for creating this program and her expectations for its future.
What was your motivation behind creating free Mandarin Classes?
I was tutoring a 7 year old student with Mandarin who had previously participated in the China Care Fund Dumplings program. One day after class, I was chatting with his Mom and she mentioned how difficult it was to find a Mandarin class that was age appropriate for non-Chinese speaking children.
So I thought why don't we (BUCCF) start a program to teach young children Chinese.
How did you go about planning this new program?
I was the Dumplings coordinator for a year and I saw a lot of similarities in the structure of the program in a Chinese class. I was confident that i was able to develop a new program that not only benefits adopted Chinese students, but also the children in the Boston area. Not to mention, it could help raise more awareness for Half the Sky and China Care Fund.
What are your expectations going into this?
My expectations for this program is that as more students grow out of the beginners level classes, we can then provide an upper level class for them, so that students can follow through with their education. In addition, I hope that this will start a new tradition in all the China Care Clubs across the states so that children across the nation can learn Mandarin.
It's only a few weeks before the launch of BUCCF's Mandarin classes and there are still plenty that needs to be done. BUCCF is looking for student volunteers who are interested in teaching young children Mandarin. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Joanna Poon at [email protected]
Although each year, there has been talk about creating Chinese Classes for children interested, Joanna Poon, Co-Vice President of BUCCF took the reins and worked hard to try to make it come together this year. Despite still being in the very early stages of planning, Joanna talks about her motivation for creating this program and her expectations for its future.
What was your motivation behind creating free Mandarin Classes?
I was tutoring a 7 year old student with Mandarin who had previously participated in the China Care Fund Dumplings program. One day after class, I was chatting with his Mom and she mentioned how difficult it was to find a Mandarin class that was age appropriate for non-Chinese speaking children.
So I thought why don't we (BUCCF) start a program to teach young children Chinese.
How did you go about planning this new program?
I was the Dumplings coordinator for a year and I saw a lot of similarities in the structure of the program in a Chinese class. I was confident that i was able to develop a new program that not only benefits adopted Chinese students, but also the children in the Boston area. Not to mention, it could help raise more awareness for Half the Sky and China Care Fund.
What are your expectations going into this?
My expectations for this program is that as more students grow out of the beginners level classes, we can then provide an upper level class for them, so that students can follow through with their education. In addition, I hope that this will start a new tradition in all the China Care Clubs across the states so that children across the nation can learn Mandarin.
It's only a few weeks before the launch of BUCCF's Mandarin classes and there are still plenty that needs to be done. BUCCF is looking for student volunteers who are interested in teaching young children Mandarin. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Joanna Poon at [email protected]