LEARNING CHINESE

IN SEPTEMBER 2022, High School Chinese teacher Min Wang launched a new pen pal project between her students and undergraduate students at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a public research institution in Shanghai, China, where Min earned her doctorate degree in linguistics.

Min worked with her former university colleague, Professor Zhixin Pan, to match the 50 GDS students with pen pals who shared their interests. Min sought to personalize the study of the Chinese language for her students, and both educators aimed to foster cross-cultural communication while helping everyone gain a better grasp of the target language. On all fronts, the program appears to be a success.

The students began by exchanging emails, though many have since switched to Zoom conversations to get to know each other better.

Over Zoom, junior Jordan Quint introduced his classmates to his pen pal, Huanyu Li, who was excited to discuss NBA star LeBron James. Sophie Wohlstadter ’23 and her pen pal have discussed artificial intelligence, while Zhang Chi, pen pal to Nura Idriss ’26, reflected on their shared appreciation for Dickens’s novels, sci-fi films, and the delicacy of the Chinese language. “No matter what country you come from or what cultural background you have,” Zhang wrote to Nura in an email, “there is still something beautiful that is commonly appreciated by us.”

Min does not grade the exchanges, but she requires her students to correspond with their pen pals at least once a week, and she proofreads the students’ emails to offer guidance. The Chinese undergrads have also politely pointed out errors on occasion and modeled more colloquial Chinese expressions. “They are trying to make us sound as native as possible,” Jordan said, even as he admitted to spending large portions of video chats just laughing at his pen pal’s jokes.

Chinese Language Students

DISCUSSED THE PEN PAL PROJECT WHILE MAKING DUMPLINGS IN THE HS KITCHEN.

Here are snippets from email exchanges between Izzy Auerswald ’23 (Chinese name Wu Yingzi) and her Chinese pen pal. Izzy’s comments have been translated from Chinese to English for this publication.

IZZY AUERSWALD ’23: Hello, Li Yujie! My name is Wu Yingzi, and I am your pen pal….

YUJIE:

Hello, Izzy Auerswald! Now that l know there is a lovely pen pal far across the Pacific Ocean writing to me, I’m really looking forward to having more talks with you!

IZZY:

My Chinese is not very good, but I want to practice so I can improve. What are you studying now? I am currently studying mathematics, English, Chinese, and neuroscience…

YUJIE:

Since l heard that you are learning Neurology, are you gonna be a doctor in neurological fields? By the way, a little mistake can be pointed out in your letter. Although in English it is ’after entering the college’, we adjust the sequence into “ ” instead of “ ”. But you have already done such a good job! I’m so proud of your achievement in Chinese learning.