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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2015)
Wednesday, September 9, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon CHInESE: All three schools have Chinese instruction Continued from page 3 involved in the program. Tina Cao is teaching at Sisters Elementary School. “The idea is to hit every student in the elementary school with Chinese,” Per- kins explained. “The hope is that the students will have the exposure to Chinese culture and then want to go on in the middle school.” Cao hails from Henan Province, the origin-point of Chinese civilization. “It’s a very historical place,” she said. “Four thou- sand years ago, people lived there.” She was drawn to teaching Chinese as an opportunity to experience a markedly differ- ent culture. “I want to experience different life,” she said. “America is so different from China… Here life is peace- ful, not so busy. The environ- ment is so good — it makes people comfortable.” All three teachers com- mented repeatedly on the blue skies and beautiful nat- ural environment of Sisters Country. Cao made note of another difference. Teachers at Sisters Ele- mentary School “encourage the students to create some- thing or express themselves.” By contrast, students in China are usually reticent to speak up for fear of saying the wrong thing. Yvonne Tieh will teach at Sisters High School, where Vivian Zhang and Eva Xu are still in place, helping with making the transition between teachers. Tieh, a fitness enthusiast, loves the natural beauty of Sisters. “When jogging on the road, I met more deer than people,” she said. Ti e h w a s i n s p i r e d to teach by meeting an American who was teach- ing English in China. “The lady was so nice,” she said. “I thought it was very good to be a teacher teaching abroad. I wanted to be like her.” She has taught previously in Thailand. “I just love teaching Chi- nese to foreigners,” she said. American students — at least in Sisters — are not quite what Tieh was anticipating. “In my imagination, before I got here, I thought the students are naughty,” she said. “I think the students are very nice!” Linda Yang, who teaches at Sisters Middle School, sees Sisters students as very different from students in China. Here, she says, there is more “learning by doing.” Class sizes are much smaller than the 50 or 60 stu- dents who might be found in a class in China, where Yang spent five years teaching English to Chinese students before deciding to go abroad. “American school is a little bit causal, (more) free than Chinese class,” said Yang, who is experiencing her first trip outside China. “I think the students are very 29 photo by JiM cornelius Yvonne Tieh, Linda Yang and Tina Cao with David Perkins. The new teachers are helping to expand and strengthen Sisters’ Mandarin Chinese program. active. I think the students are very outgoing. They say ‘hi’ to me. In China, the students are very shy.” Because of the support of Hanban, a division of the Chinese Ministry of Informa- tion and the PSU Confucius Institute, there is very little cost to Sisters School District to host the teachers. “The only thing the dis- trict pays for is their health insurance,” Perkins noted. “It’s a great deal for the school district.” By integrating the Manda- rin program through all three schools, the district is build- ing a program with legs. And having full-time teachers in the high school means sched- uling problems endemic in a small school have been smoothed out, enabling more students to take Chinese. And the turnout is impressive. “ We h a v e 4 4 k i d s that signed up for Chi- nese I,” said Perkins. “It’s a bit overwhelming. It’s a record-breaker.” The new teachers appre- ciate the welcome they have found in Sisters, and are enjoying a way of living so different from their home. “Very beautiful,” Yang reflected. “It’s very quiet. I like this town. The people are very nice.” A Parteership Beyoed Your Expectatioes Stop by aed visit with Tiaea Vae Laeduyt & Shelley Marsh. 220 S. Pine St., Ste. 102 | 541-548-9180 BLACK BUTTE RANCH REAL ESTATE HOWELLS REALTY GROUP mls #201503616 NEW PRICE! GOLFIHOMEI276I•I$389,000 IncredibleIValue! mls #201410232 ROCKIRIDGEI2I•I$475,000 OverlookingItheISouthIMeadowIPool Gary Yoder, Managing Principal Broker, 541-420-6708 Dick Howells, Principal Broker, 541-408-6818 Phil Arends, Principal Broker, 541-420-9997 Joe Dye, Broker, 541-595-2604 Carol Dye, Broker, 541-480-0923 Steve Post, , Broker, , 541 541-480-5415 480 5415 Don Bowler, , Broker, 971 971-244-3012 244 30 3 Our Wednesday event has moved to the weekend! Visit us every SATURDAY, 4 to 6 p.m. to enjoy our Wine & Cheese Open House! Next to the new Lodge Pool Complex Ranch OFFICE open daily, 9 to 6 541-595-3838 The Ranch • 541-549-5555 in Sisters see all our listings at blackbutte.com