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Taft HS now has a partner school in China
by BRIAN NADIG
Taft High School, which has a popular Mandarin language program, now has a partner school in China and hopes to take a group of students to that country.
On Dec. 1 Taft teacher Chaoyi Li and principal Dr. Ryan Glowacz attended a ceremony at the Chinese consulate in Chicago to sign a “School Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding” with Shandong Jinan No. 9 High School in China. During the ceremony the consulate highlighted China’s Young Envoys Scholarship Program, which aims over a 5-year period to bring 50,000 Americans of exchange and study in an effort to bolster U.S.-China relations.
The memorandum agreement makes sense for Taft given that as a World International Baccalaureate School, its mission is to “educate global citizens to create a better world,” Glowacz said.
After the signing, the two principals shared information about where they’re from. “(Shandong Province) is the home of Confucious,” Glowacz said, adding that he shared that Chicago is the home of basketball legend Michael Jordan.
Taft’s Mandarin program started 7 years ago after Taft looked at what other languages were being offered at its 20 feeder elementary school. “We surveyed our feeder schools, and we found out that Mandarin was the second most offered language … after Spanish,” Glowacz said, adding that most of the schools offered only one language.
More than 400 students are enrolled in Mandarin at Taft, whose curriculum includes an International Baccalaureate Diploma course of Mandarin that allows students to earn college credit. Its Mandarin instructors are Li, Jennifer Lee and Mijia Wang.
On Feb. 2 Glowacz, Wang, Li and about 20 students attended a Chinese New Year celebration at the consulate.
The students performed a “Lion Dance” and sang in Mandarin. Students from Lincoln Park and Westinghouse College Prep high schools also attended the festivities.
In addition, Glowacz was a keynote speaker, reflecting on the research trips that he had taken to China. Glowacz’s research included an examination of economic and student development in China in 2009.
“This is kind of a cool thing for me … to bring students to China,” where he has traveled to twice, Glowacz said. He added that Taft is looking to have about 20 students travel to China in 2027.
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