Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

C ' ^ ' show and TELL by Amy Lundine Eisenhower 122 held more students than desks Nov. 1 tor the Chinese 1 class ' s bring-a-friend day. Wei Wu, instructor of modern languages, wrote characters on the board as students shuffled desks into a circle and set up a video camera in the corner of the room. Wu offered Chinese candy to the students while explaining that its name, " da bai tu, " translated to " big white rabbit " in English. The Department of Modern Languages added a Chinese program fall 2005. Twenty-two students enrolled in the sequence, which offered Chinese 1, 2, 3 and 4. Wu made the classes as interactive as possible. " I try to make the content related to their daily life, " Wu said. " This way it will keep them interested, rather than practicing something that is not related to them. " For bnng-a-friend day, students invited someone Chinese, or someone interested in learning Chinese, to class. Students introduced their friends to the class while the video camera recorded and Wu listened intently. " Watching the videos is embarrassing, " Brad Kurtz, sophomore in history, said, " but I think it helps you figure out how you ' re speaking and whether your tone is correct. " Students also wrote scripts for their presentations in Chinese characters. " I ' ve had lots of practice writing the characters, " Kurtz said. " The stroke order is kind of ingrained in my head, so it ' s getting pretty easy for me. " Kurtz said he also took Japanese classes because he hopes to work in a diplomatic position in East Asia. Tomohiko Niikura, Japanese foreign exchange student, took Chinese to prepare for his future, in a different way. " I want to speak English and Chinese, " Niikura said. " My best friend went to China in the exchange student system, so when I go back to Japan, I will speak Chinese with her. " Midway through the presentation, Niikura volunteered to share a traditional Japanese dance with the class. " I belong in Japan to yosakoi - it ' s very fun, " he said. " There is a yosakoi group here, and now I ' m the assistant director, so I ' m everyday busy. " Niikuro said he learned a small amount of Chinese in Japan and enjoyed practicing in Wu ' s class. " I asked the Chinese teacher ' can I join your class, ' and she told me ' welcome, ' " he said. " She ' s a very kind teacher. " Architectural Engineering and Computer Science n 1 ■mOHV NG „ • n, I ^^^^^^^1 " £2 r »^ iJOd Front row. Sulton Stephens, James Goddard, David Fritchen, Tom Logan, Tim Dieker, Darren Reynolds, Sabrina Sandburg. Back row: Ray Yunk, Deborah Schuster. Julia Keen. Rhonda Wilkinson, M Susie Calvin. Carl Riblett, Kimberly Kramer, Charles Burton. Arts, Science and Business - Salina Frontrow:PatriciaAckerman,DavidAhlvers,JungOh,JudyCollins, KathyBrockway. Row2;DonVonB Richard Zajac. Betty Fowler, Kaleen Knopp, Kendall Griggs. Back row: Joel Matthews, S Mitch Barnes, Leslie Hannah. Robert Homolka, Fred Guzek. Aviation - Salina Front row: Sharon Cristler, Rebecca Armstrong, Janine Nunes, Ken Barnard. Row 2: Jimmy Splichal, Hugh Irvin. George Hiechel, Troy Brockway. Back row: Charles Sojka, Barney King, Bill Gross, Evan Beckman, Andrew Smith. Chinese language programll3