CUMBERLAND — Preschoolers at West Side Elementary School weren’t interested in tasting the Chinese dumplings on Monday, but they were pretty good at using chopsticks.
The 4-year-olds, who joined the rest of the student body in a daylong celebration of the Chinese new year, reveled in the “chopstick game,” in which they used chopsticks to carry tiny plastic dinosaurs from one end of a hallway to another, racing classmates.
Older students enjoyed tasting the samples of dumplings and tangerines — both traditional foods for the Chinese new year, said Xinpei Yu, a member of Frostburg State University’s Chinese Culture Club.
“We give them the chopsticks, and we teach them how to use the chopsticks,” said Yu, an exchange student from China. “Most of them can do it. Many of them already learned that before, so it was easier for them.”
At other stations around the school, students learned how to write their names in Chinese calligraphy, heard Chinese music and made traditional Chinese crafts. And at the end of the day, everyone marched in an indoor parade.
It’s the first year West Side has offered the program, which was presented by FSU’s Chinese Culture Club. Next fall, the school is piloting a partial-immersion Chinese program for about 24 kindergartners, meaning that about half of those students’ classes will be taught in Chinese.
“This is kind of the lead-in to try to get our whole school community aware of the program,” said West Side Principal Molly Stewart, who traveled to China last fall with four other Allegany County Public School employees. The partial-immersion program is open to interested families from across the county. Students in the cohort will participate through the fifth grade.
On Monday, fifth-grader Bryanna Cook watched FSU student Jenny Li write “Bryanna” in Chinese characters, then tried to copy it using a paint brush and permanent ink.
“Is that right?” Cook asked. “... That was hard.”
“Yes, but you do it very well,” Li said.
Yu said she is glad that some Allegany County children will get to learn Chinese next year in the partial-immersion program.
“I think it’s a good way for more people to learn our Chinese, and it’s good for kids to learn from a very young age,” Yu said.
Contact Kristin Harty Barkley at kbarkley@times-news.com.
Local News
Related Photos
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West Side Elementary School kindergartner Kado White practices his chopstick skills with a tangerine Monday during a Chinese new year observance. The daylong program was presented by Frostburg State University’s Chinese Culture Club. Ed DeWitt
West Side students get taste of China
Pupils use chopsticks during Chinese new year celebration
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