Students at Cleveland’s Global Ambassadors Language Academy, a public K-8 charter school on Cleveland’s West Side, learn all about Chinese languages and culture in the classroom. Last month, two students got to experience it firsthand when they traveled to Chengdu, China.
Harrison Rogers and Kayden Wright, both in 8th grade at GALA, made the roughly day-long journey to Chengdu to compete in an international debate challenge with both American and Chinese students. Then they spent a week in Chengdu immersing themselves in Chinese culture and touring landmarks with students from across the world.
GALA sent two students to the same competition last year. Both trips have been paid for by Chengdu’s foreign affairs office and education bureau. The school selected students for the trip based on their Mandarin fluency and parent permission.
Kayden and Harrison shared photos and thoughts on their experience with Signal Cleveland.
Kayden and Harrison both started learning Mandarin, a Chinese dialect, in kindergarten. They were among the first students in GALA’s Mandarin immersion program, which began when the school opened in 2016. Now, both speak enough Mandarin to have full conversations.
Harrison has been to China before on a family vacation, but for Kayden, this trip was his first time outside North America.
“It feels great, you know, because the school has given me such an opportunity to, like, learn so much extra stuff,” Kayden said. “I wouldn’t be able to get this type of learning in many different schools.”
GALA students start learning Spanish or Mandarin from kindergarten. Half of every school day is taught in the foreign language the student chose to learn. Students in kindergarten and first grade can enroll in GALA without any foreign language experience. If students in second through eighth grade want to enroll, they have to pass a language test.
“The test is not to keep children out but to just make sure that they will be able to learn,” said Meran Rogers, the founder and executive director of GALA. In grades K-5, students learn most of their core subjects in their chosen language, she said, so having some language experience is crucial.
GALA teacher Zhangjie Chen helped organize the trip and coached Kayden and Harrison for the debate. Chen, originally from Beijing, China, taught English there for 10 years before moving to the United States. She started teaching Mandarin at GALA three years ago.
Learning languages, especially at a young age, can help build new pathways in the brain. Chen said she sees that in her students. Introducing them to new cultures fosters empathy and more global awareness, she said.
In Chengdu, Harrison tested his Mandarin in conversations with native speakers.
“It was pretty good,” he said. “Some accents, though, are kind of hard to understand, but I talked with a few people.”
The debate challenge was a new experience for both Kayden and Harrison. All the other debate teams came from high schools both in China and the United States. More than 100 debate teams in Chengdu competed for spots in the challenge. They debated in English, giving Chinese students a chance to test their language skills.
“It was pretty fun,” Kayden said. “I thought about joining the debate team for high school because I feel like it was a nice experience.”
When they weren’t debating, Harrison and Kayden sampled local foods like hot pot. Sichuan hot pot, a regional dish that originated in the province around Chengdu in the 1800s, has a mouth-numbing spicy broth. They also tried sugar paintings, handheld candies made from melted sugar shaped into animals.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” Harrison said. “I really like Chengdu. We went to a lot of museums, and we ate food at cool restaurants every day.”
Chen, Harrison and Kayden also visited a renowned panda sanctuary that houses more than 200 giant pandas. Some even refer to Chengdu as the panda capital of the world. Kayden and Chen left with red panda hats because the gift shop ran out of black-and-white ones.
During a cultural tour, Kayden, Chen and Harrison learned about a traditional performing art called Sichuan Opera. Performers wear masks that they can instantly change by flicking their heads. The trio got to paint their own masks.
By the time they got on their flight back to the United States, Kayden said, he was excited to go home. The journey took Kayden, Harrison and Chen through Shanghai and Detroit, where Meran Rogers picked them up.
Like Harrison, Kayden said the trip was among the best times of his life.
“It was my first time ever going out the country,” Kayden said. “It was a lot of fun.”
