Local school learns Chinese culture

A partnership between Paint Branch Elementary School and the University of Maryland is helping PBES students learn about what is, according to a report from the United Nations, the most populated country in the world: China.
The university’s Confucius Institute works to promote the study of Chinese culture and further understanding of China in the world today.
The Confucius Institute is assisting the elementary school’s One World, One Dream program.
The program, which shares a name with the theme of last summer’s Olympic Games held in China, hopes to incorporate Chinese culture throughout the school’s curriculum.
“Acquiring an understanding and proficiency in Chinese language and culture opens the door to a better future for our students in a global society,” Alan Chung, the executive director of the Confucius Institute, said in a press release.
He added that the Confucius Institute intends “to promote and provide more Chinese language and culture programs to the students in Maryland schools.”
The partnership hopes to achieve three major goals: first, to bring experts from the university into PBES classrooms; second, to provide opportunities at the university for both PBES students and staff; and third, to aid in PBES staff and faculty’s professional development.
“Basically, the goal of the partnership is to really harness the resources of the university into the elementary school in order to increase student achievement and the overall success of the school,” Amy Neugebauer, project manager of the University of Maryland/Paint Branch Partnership, said.
“There’s a lot of untapped potential there,” she said, and the partnership will help the PBES students grow more connected with an opportunity-laden university that they may later be attending.
Students at PBES, whose mission statement says that the school is committed to helping students acquire skills that will make them “productive citizens and life-long learners,” will benefit from a full-time Chinese language instructor, sponsored by the Confucius Institute, and a new partnership with Nankai University Elementary School in Tianjin, China.
Some of the students may get to travel to China over spring break as part of the program.
Freshman animal sciences and pre-veterinary major Annie Penna agreed that a cultural education is important, but had a few worries.
“It would definitely be a good experience,” she said, “but perhaps the children at that age are too young to be completely immersed in such a different culture with a collectivist view as opposed to an individualist view that they are used to.”
Still, Penna added, “These children will grow up one day and will be in charge of the country, so to speak. Everyone should experience something cultural to broaden the mind and have perspective.”
“Our primary purpose is to prepare the students to be successful in the world arena,” Principal Jay Teston told The Washington Post. “The level of interest from the students was very high last year,” when the students participated in a number of activities to build on what they had learned and observed from the different cultures represented at the summer’s Olympic Games.
The elementary school’s partnership with the Confucius Institute is only part of their overarching relationship with the university.
The university has partnered with PBES in the past.
The university has provided opportunities for elementary school students to attend Gymkana exhibitions, participate in a mentorship program and receive instruction and advice directly from university professors.