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Princeton Friends School 470 Quaker Road
609-683-1194
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News12/07/2007: PRINCETON FRIENDS SCHOOL CHINESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM Princeton Friends School launched its Chinese language program at the beginning of the school year in 1998, after receiving a start-up grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The Dodge Foundation was expanding the range of its grantees to include those teaching Chinese at a pre-collegiate level, and Princeton Friends School was one of 11 New Jersey schools -- and the only independent school -- selected for a grant. Since then, our school has been offering a spoken- and written-Chinese-language curriculum to students in pre-kindergarten through grade 8. All students at Princeton Friends School are required to study Chinese (along with Spanish) through 2nd grade. In the 3rd grade, they choose to continue with either Chinese or Spanish. The children who comprise our Chinese language program are a singularly dedicated group of scholars. They study in small classes with our Chinese language teacher, Jing-Lan Ku, who is an active participant in a network of Chinese language instructors in New Jersey. This group of educators currently meets once a month and is working to develop classroom materials and curriculum, as the relatively new pedagogy for teaching Chinese to American children evolves. By the time they graduate, the Chinese-language students at Princeton Friends School know hundreds of words and characters, are able to begin making everyday conversation in Chinese, understand the significance of both Ping-Yin and the many components of the traditional Chinese character system, write characters using proper stroke sequences, and possess a deep understanding of and appreciation for Chinese culture. Indeed, our entire school participates in a Chinese New Year celebration that showcases the work of our Chinese-language students and teaches every child and adult in our school community about Chinese language and culture. Because Jing-Lan Ku has high expectations for both her students and for the Princeton Friends Chinese program -- the process of understanding Chinese, its characters, its tones, and the rich history the language expresses -- even our youngest kindergarten students are learning how to read and write in Chinese, using traditional, not simplified, characters. As the Dodge Foundation recognized when it expanded its grant program to include elementary schools, the earlier the better with such a course of study. Recently we have seen a number of our students graduate from our Chinese program and continue their studies in high school. Several express a strong interest in building their academic careers around Asian studies, and one of our alumni spent the past summer studying in China. Another is taking Chinese classes on weekends in anticipation of advanced study of the language in college. Because of such students and because of the extraordinary experience the Princeton Friends School Chinese program confers on all its students, we are committed to seeing this groundbreaking program continue to evolve and thrive. We believe that the future of Asian studies in America begins at the elementary school level. And we are confident that our program, which draws more and more visitors from other schools each year, can be a model for what is possible for a new generation of Asian studies scholars. The Princeton Friends School Chinese Language Program is now offering naming opportunities for generous donors. Individuals or corporations interested in having their name associated with this renowned language program should contact Jill Feldman, PFS Director of Development, at 609 683-1194, extension 16; jill@princetonfriendsschool.org. All gifts to Princeton Friends School, a 501(c)(3) organization, are 100 percent tax-deductible. |