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Local Students Learn Chinese
08/15/08 - 11:22 AM
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Monday is back to school for Bay District Schools but some young students in Bay County are already hitting the books in three different languages. 

For 8 year old students at Panama City Renaissance School, math class in Mandarin Chinese is as easy as it comes.
“It’s a different language, very different from english and sometimes I can sneak a word or two in that my parents don’t understand,” says Amelia Talkington.

Administrator of the school, Juliann Talkington, says studying for an International MBA with students of many different cultures provoked her interest in providing a different kind of education.

“I think it was a wake up call that we have a lot of competition in the world, and the world is changing especially because of technology,” says Talkington.

She says her work now is in an attempt to level the playing field for all kids.  Now five teachers instruct students in Spanish, English and Mandarin.

“Between the ages of a few months and 18 years of age you lose about 30 percent of the language area of your brain so by speaking more languages, you keep more of your brain,” says Talkington.

The school is housed in rented space from an Episcopal Church has grown from 2 students to 23 in four years.  One student learned English as a second language after spending several years of her young life in China.  But said… It wasn’t tough to adjust.

“There were papers with pictures on them and we had to write what they were,” says Vicky Wu.

Talkington says the students can learn from each other as well because this is a cultural education.  Even programs like the Beijing Olypics are heightening interest.

“Seeing that on TV with the Olympics was really fascinating for them they just loved it,” says Talkington.

Talkington says four times as many people in the world speak Chinese than English.  She found three qualified teachers fluent in Mandarin right here in Bay County.