Thanks to the collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's College of Liberal Arts and Education and the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, students have the opportunity to study Chinese.
Offered this spring, Elementary Chinese includes the study of the Chinese pronunciation system, initials and finals, writing structures, basic patterns of Chinese grammar, and application of foundational words, phrases, and sentences in daily communication and interpersonal interactions. Students will develop basic Chinese language skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing and comprehension. Students also explore the culture of China and its 5,000 years of history.
The course instructor, Dr. Amy West, is a UW-Platteville alumna and a native of China. She has a master’s degree in counseling psychology; a master’s degree in adult education, with a specialization in foreign languages acquisition; and earned a doctorate degree in leadership studies. Prior to teaching at UW-Platteville, West taught English at a private women’s college in China for 10 years and Chinese at a public school in Wisconsin for eight years.
“I feel like my whole life had been prepared for this precious opportunity of teaching Chinese, my native language, at UW-Platteville," said West. "As Nelson Mandela said, ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.’ My students want to learn my native language. That's why they have taken my heart.”
Maggie Norquist, a junior computer science major, enrolled in Chinese this spring.
“It’s definitely been one of the classes that I look forward to the most, and I get a lot out of it," she said. "Professor West’s teaching style is also very easy for me to follow, and we learn a lot of related topics that reinforce each other and make things easy to remember.”
Mitchell Franich, a senior mechanical engineering major, praised the course.
"The effort based, stress-free nature of the class encourages a new kind of learning that I don't see in my engineering classes," said Franich. "Overall, all of my classmates do very well because they want to be there, not because they have to. We all love Chinese culture and language and are extremely grateful for such a knowledgeable teacher.”
Dr. Hilton Kelly, dean of the College of LAE, and Dr. Philip Parker, acting dean of the College of EMS, collaborated to add this course to the world language curriculum.
“The College of LAE has infused language instruction into general education and the Humanities curriculum in ways that bolster our mission to prepare students for lives of leadership and service in a diverse, global and complex world," said Kelly. "But these decisions about which language and why must begin and end with the interests of our students. Dean Parker and I worked together to bring a language that industry leaders have highlighted as critical, as well as Spanish and German, to a future in STEM careers.”
“The demand for this class came from industry,” said Parker. “More and more of our Wisconsin-based industry has partnerships with Chinese firms – those firms may be providing parts to our midwestern companies, may own our local companies, or may partner in many other ways.”
West’s Elementary Chinese course will also be offered on campus in the fall 2024 semester.