OBHS to be one of few offering Chinese courses
Seen as beneficial for those pursuing careers in business
BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE - Students at Old Bridge High School will have the opportunity to go a little more global, thanks to the introduction of Mandarin Chinese to the language department next year.

"Chinese has just become such a huge economic power in the world," Superintendent of Schools Simon Bosco said. "It would certainly give [students] a leg up if they are going to pursue business."

The Board of Education voted at its November meeting to include Chinese in the school's curriculum beginning in September 2008. It will be one of only a small group of New Jersey high schools offering the language.

Three Old Bridge school officials traveled to China over the summer after administrators began considering bringing Chinese into the curriculum at the high school, Bosco said. The nine-day trip, which brought a group of 800 American educators across the globe, was paid for by Hanban, China's office of Chinese Language Council International, as part of the American-Chinese Bridge Delegation.

The administrators - Joe Marinzoli, supervisor of world languages, art and music; Christine Piscatelli, director of secondary education; and Marie Terrell, vice principal at Old Bridge High School - created a presentation for the Board of Education after returning from their trip. In it, they highlighted aspects of their voyage, including visits to Chinese landmarks, as well as seminars and classrooms.

"[The board and administrators] were very supportive about the trip, and receptive to introducing Chinese as one of the additional languages," Marinzoli said.

The high school currently offers French, Spanish, German and Italian to students. One or two Chinese courses will be added next year to introduce the program of study, Bosco said.

"The federal government is looking for people who speak Mandarin and Arabic," Bosco said. "It seemed to make sound educational sense to get in on this early."

Marinzoli said students at the high school have in the past expressed interest in the Chinese courses. He said he is very excited about the new courses, because of their various benefits to students.

"It gives the students who are coming into the high school the opportunity to take a non-Western language," Marinzoli said. "It gives them an opportunity to be exposed to something that, prior, has only been offered at the college level."

During the faculty members' trip, officials offered to send Chinese teachers to America free of charge, only asking for lodging and transportation to schools each day. The offer indicates the country's interest in spreading their language to the United States.

Though school administrators have not taken them up on the offer, Bosco said district officials have already been contacted by a couple of teachers who are interested in jumping on board with the program.

The Freehold Regional High School District, in Monmouth County, has also voted to offer Chinese. Its superintendent of schools, James Wasser, also took the tour in China last summer. Wasser said there is a growing interest nationally in the Chinese language and it is quickly becoming the hottest foreign language being taught in American schools.

Due to the changing global economy, he said, the U.S. State Department is encouraging schools to offer languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Farsi and Hindi.