Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2015, Page 10

Description:	5k-<*s/ew Year!r the first time ever, students at Bloomington South have the opportunity to learn Mandarin Chinese. Man)away from change and have made switch from more traditional course offerings.A trip to the guidance counselor canhave several purposes, one of thembeing a check for a foreign languagecourse. These choices have traditionallyincluded Spanish, French, Latin, andGerman. This year, however, a languagenever before taught at Bloomington HighSchool South has emerged. MandarinChinese I and II were first-time optionson the scheduling form, and everyonewas curious to discover how this newcourse might fare.The result was a resoundingsuccess. Students had various reasonsfor taking Chinese: some to stand out,others due to a love of the culture.10 ACADEMICSSophomore William Lewis chose totake Chinese I for practical reasons.According to Lewis, the class will helphim because he has an interest in thelanguage for business reasons, travelingas an interpreter and maybe teachingEnglish in China.Junior Hannah Decker, anotherChinese I enrollee, described herexperience in the class as somewhatdifficult but worthwhile. Its a lot harderthan I thought it would be, Decker said.But with Chinese, its a little easier forfor me, because Ive been into Asianculture since I was very young.Freshman Chase Alexander haddifferent reasons for taking Chinese II.I found it was unique and not manypeople were taking it, Alexander said. Iwanted to stand out and do somethingother people werent doing.Not only have the Chinese coursesoffered students a unique languageexperience, but they have shown thepotential to open doors in future careersand opportunities. As a welcomeaddition to the already diverse selectionof languages taught at South, thecourses were sure to present both newchallenges and new horizons.-CALEB NORIEGA-
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/8843
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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