Durbin presents federal grant for Chinese
Sen. Dick Durbin visited Barbara Rose School in South Barrington Friday afternoon to observe a first-grade Chinese-language immersion class and formally present the $1.5 million federal grant that made it possible.
Middle school students from Barrington Unit District 220 also were there to greet the senator with dancing Chinese dragons and share some of their two years of instruction in Mandarin.
The first graders were relatively new to the language, but showed off their early knowledge by holding up the appropriate pages with the Chinese phrases spoken by their teacher. They then played another game by laying out the multicolored pages on the floor and jumping from one to another as their teacher indicated in Chinese where to go next.
Durbin told the students — particularly the older ones — how he hoped their learning the language would prepare them for leadership opportunities in a shrinking world.
“The students inspire me and I hope they inspire all of us,” Durbin told a gathering of adults that included District 220 Superintendent Tom Leonard, board of education members Brian Battle, Penny Kazmier and Sandra Bradford and South Barrington Village President Frank Munao.
Durbin presented the district with the federal Foreign Language Assistance Program grant which provides additional startup funding for the first five years of the program.
The district hopes to start about 50 first graders each year on a potential 16 years of instruction in Mandarin if they carry on through a program at the University of Illinois.
The Barrington school district is collaborating with others in Schaumburg and Lake Forest as they move forward with programs to teach Mandarin to their youngest students.
“One of the goals is to create a program that’s sustainable and replicable,” said Todd Bowen, project manager at District 220.
Durbin said the creation of an elementary school curriculum for Mandarin that other districts can adapt is a big part of the reasoning behind the grant.
Though District 220 board members were enthusiastic about the opportunity offered by the grant, they struggled for months over whether uncertainties over state funding made the program something they could sustain.
“Without the flat grant, District 220 would not have been able to take this bold step,” Bowen told Durbin.
Durbin asked Bowen, who teaches Chinese, the meaning behind the Mandarin script on his necktie.
Bowen translated it as a proverb that says not to measure the achievements of what we do today in the present, but by its impact on future generations.