Just as Rider’s Sanda students are acclimating themselves to American culture, Rider students in Professor Jane Jiang’s Introduction to Chinese class are learning the rudiments of the language and gaining firsthand knowledge about some of the customs.

Jiang, adjunct instructor of Chinese, teaches the course within the department of foreign languages and literatures – the first Chinese language course at Rider. The class places emphasis on developing proficiency in four areas of communication – listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students are exposed to native speakers of Mandarin Chinese via interactive videos and PowerPoint presentations. Two Sanda students, Sarah Cheng and Joyce Zhang, serve as mentors, offering assistance when necessary. More than 95 percent of the class are freshmen.

“My goal is to elevate student interest and I do this in various ways,” said Jiang. For instance, last month in class, 13 students celebrated the Chinese New Year by making and eating jiaozi (dumplings).

“Celebrating the significance of the Chinese New Year was a good way for students to better understand Chinese culture and the language. Preparing and eating jiaozi has been practiced for over 2,000 years,” said Jiang. “It is typically eaten on New Year’s eve before the new lunar year. I also gave everyone ‘Hong Bao’ – a decorative red envelope filled with candy coins.

“There are more than 1 billion people in the world who speak Chinese,” said Jiang. “The 2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. Learning Chinese is a growing trend in the United States, and Rider is right on track with developing new programs such as a Chinese Area Studies minor.”

Freshman Derek Rosolowsky of Hamilton is enjoying learning about a new culture and language. “I have always wanted to learn an Asian language,” said Rosolowsky, who is considering majoring in global business and multinational studies. “When I found out that Rider was offering Chinese and that I needed at least one foreign language to fulfill a core requirement, that gave me enough incentive to sign up for the course.

“Learning to read and write Chinese is pretty cool,” he continued. “Whenever I’m back home with my friends and we are out somewhere they always ask me to translate the Chinese characters for them if we are at a Chinese restaurant. It makes me feel knowledgeable.”

For Mandi Magnuson-Hung of Burlington, taking the class is more a personal goal than career booster. Magnuson-Hung’s husband is Chinese. She has been learning much about the culture both at home and in class.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the characters, how they fit together and how much more interesting they look than the Roman alphabet,” said Magnuson-Hung, a senior history major. “One of our assignments is to compare an aspect of Chinese culture to its counterpart in the United States. I think it’s good to remind ourselves that the United States is not the end-all of all cultures.”

Students interested in studying Chinese will be able to take both elementary (100-101) and intermediate (200-201) Chinese this coming academic year (2007-08). In addition, Dr. Minmin Wang, professor of communication, is sponsoring a three-week course for three credits in Fuzhou, China this summer. The course includes an excursion in Beijing, followed by the Fuzhou program: one week of language and culture immersion and two weeks of tutoring English to Chinese high school students. Contact Dr. Wang at 609-895-5482 or via wang@rider.edu for more information.

Next Story

Return to Newswire