|
Fangqiong Wang was hoping to ease into her new surroundings and her new school system when she came to Whitman-Hanson, instead she had to help evacuate the school less than a month into her new job.
Wang had been in America for about a week and a half when a white powder was found at the high school, forcing the teachers and students to leave the school while Hazmat officials dealt with the problem. “We had a fire drill first period, and I actually asked a kid if we would have another one and he said no,” Wang said remembering the day. “Then next period, it went off again.” The rest of Wang’s stay at Whitman-Hanson has been less stressful. Apart from adjusting to much smaller class sizes than she is used to, Wang said the biggest adjustment has been learning to deal with American teenagers. “In China, you have to think of ways to encourage students to talk, and here, you need to figure out ways to stop them from talking,” she said with a laugh. “But I think they are all nice students.” Wang is the fourth teacher in three years to come to the school district from China as part of an US/China Relations exchange program, and said she has had a pleasant stay thus far. “I really enjoy staying here,” she said. “Time flies actually.” Wang, who comes from Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province in Central China, is teaching Chinese I, Chinese II and Chinese Culture and is the second teacher to exclusively work at the high school. While classes in Hefei can exceed 50 students, she is dealing with class sizes of 13, 9 and 4 this trimester. “We’d like it to stick, but it takes a while for the students to try something new,” said Cheryl Daily, head of Whitman-Hanson’s foreign language department. “We feel the critical languages are going to be Chinese and Arabic, so you want to expose the students to the languages so they can use them when they get out of school. It’s all part of global education tin the 21st century.” The first year of the program, the teacher alternated between schools in the district, and last year, one teacher stayed at the high school while one worked at the elementary levels. As Whitman-Hanson continues to bring Chinese teachers into the program, Daily hopes they can expand the language classes to younger students. “Ideally we’d like to start it in the elementary and middle schools because it takes a long time to master a language,” she said. “So in order to get proficient, which is what we’re aiming for, you should start young.” Daily is hosting Wang at her home this year, and has taken her to see some of the sites. She took Wang to Boston her first week here, as well as Plymouth and Cape Cod, and gotten her used to American food, for better or worse. “I had to get used to the raw vegetables, and the cheese here is very different,” Wang said. “But the cookies, French fries and toast are all very delicious.” Wang, an English major in college, said she enrolled in the program to experience the culture she had studied for years. As she works her way through traditional Chinese folk art, music and holidays in her Chinese Culture class, she said she can’t wait to see how Americans celebrate their holiday season. “I’ve heard a lot about holidays like Christmas, Halloween and Thanksgiving and I really want to see how people celebrate them,” she said. “When you learn a foreign language want to experience the real culture.”
 |
