School of Social Sciences and International Studies

2018 Chinese Immersion Day

The Department of Modern Languages hosted the fifth Chinese Immersion Day on Feb. 15, 2018 in the Student Union Apollo Room. Chinese Instructor, Haili Du , organized the immersion experience for 85 high and middle school students with at least one year of Chinese language instruction.

Together, we celebrated the Year of the Dog and helped students deepen their knowledge of the Chinese language and culture. The students and their teachers represented four schools: Dayton Regional STEM School; Fairmont High School; Forest Hills School District and the Miami Valley School.

Dr. Marie Hertzler, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages, welcomed the students. She encouraged the students to dive into the adventure for the next three hours as a speaker of Chinese Mandarin. Following the Chair’s remarks, Modern Language Chinese minor senior student Mr. Alexander Gilles talked to the audience in Chinese about his own experience learning the language at Wright State University as well as at Shaanxi Normal University for the study abroad program. He pointed out learning Chinese was not easy, but it will help them better understand its rich history, cultures and arts. With the knowledge of Chinese language, great opportunities and bright futures were ahead of them.

 

After pledging to speak only Chinese throughout the day, the students participated in four breakout sessions. In the Peking Opera Mask painting session, students learned to use brushes to put different colors to make a Chinese traditional Opera mask. Peking Operas are listed as the masterpieces of human intangible cultural heritage.

During the Charades session, students competed within small groups to guess a Chinese phrase.  The winners of each small group then competed against the other groups using complicated phrases or sentences.  All of the students were very quick at recognizing the characters and actions the words represented.

In the Chinese Culture Jeopardy room, the students were not only challenged with all the Chinese cultural knowledges, but also competed with speed and listening comprehension. This year the students got the opportunity to learn Fan Dance with Chinese typical Kong Fu music; students learned the Kong Fu postures with a red folding fan in one hand. Lunch was provided by our own school Chartwells service. The meal included prosperity dumplings, longevity noodles, with chicken or tofu. 

Immediately after the Chinese Immersion Day, over 200 local students and visitors came to the Apollo Room to celebrate the Lunar New Year hosted by the Latino, Asian, and Native American Center. The students from the Dayton Regional STEM School and Miami Valley School gave enthusiastic Dragan dance and martial art performances on the stage. Everyone truly enjoyed the Chinese Qipao costume performance by Dayton American Chinese team. Visitors had a great time visiting different cultural booths.

The sixth annual Chinese Immersion Day will take place on Tuesday February 5, 2019.

 

 


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