His Chinese teaching name is Ma. “It means horse,” explains Christian Mothershead, a teacher at the only Chinese language school that teaches children Chinese language from K-4 to 8th grade.
His fluent Chinese tells me he has been around the block. Christian explains how it all began, “I had to take a foreign language course in high school and I did not like most of the choices, but Chinese looked pretty interesting so I choose that.”
Christian seemed to pick the language up rather easily so in 1995 he decided to “sink or swim” and moved to Taiwan. “It was total emersion and no one really spoke English, it was tough,” he says shaking his head. He reminisces about the struggles and the culture shock. “Out of all of it I miss the food the most,” he laughs.
In 1996 Christian took a trip to Cambodia that was rather hair rising. “We were stranded in the middle of a jungle port and my Khmer (Cambodia language) was not good at all. We were told that the Khmer Rouge was all around us and hated Westerners. It was getting dark and the whole atmosphere was really scary. We did not think we would get out of there alive, but the boat finally came,” said Christian.
In 1997 Christian decided to continue his Chinese studies and took a course in Beijing at the University. China was very different to Taiwan. “The people were not so friendly. Everyone was segregated, with Westerners in one place and Chinese in another place. I was called “Yang Gui” a lot, which basically means evil foreigner,” he said. The strong communist presence made everyone feel watched and spied on.
Christian recalled one incident when a foreign student was calling home, “The student was in the middle of a conversation with a family member when a third party interrupted the call. This person asked if they could slow down speaking so she could take better notes since it was her first day on the job.”
After a leg injury he decided to come back to America to complete his bachelors at UW- Madison in 2000. Not long after that he started teaching little kids and soon became involved in the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language.
Teaching has many challenges, but if you add little children, and then a few low-income families to the mix, the challenges begin to multiply. Some of the lower-income kids are coming from much rougher backgrounds then what Christian was used to teaching, “I just had to change the method of teaching I was used to with these special types of kids.” He seems to take it all in stride since he has a real passion for teaching Chinese language to children. “Especially with these lower income children we are exposing them to something beyond the confines of their neighborhoods and homes. It gives them a chance to see a very different world through Chinese art and culture.”
James Sayavong, the principle of the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language, said he has a deep concern for all the students and would like to see everyone have a shot at a better future. Sayavong said, “I came from Laos and during the Communist occupation we were running for our lives. I am so lucky to have an education. Education is so important I do not think these kids know how lucky they are so I want them to understand that.”
Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language is the first Chinese language school to teach students at age K-4. It is a blueprint for other schools and they have sparked a lot of international interest. “Other schools are wanting to learn from us, “ says Sayavong. ”At this age the children have a very early start and can pick up the language easier than say us older folks.”
Soon one child runs into the class and asks Christian what green is in Chinese and then another one rushes in and asks what dog is in Chinese, and soon more kids run in asking questions. You can feel and hear the excitement in their voices as they repeat the Chinese words and run out of the room again. Just sitting here makes me want to take a course in Chinese.
As we leave the room and they walk me to the front door I inquire about how to take courses in Chinese at the school. It appears I am too old for this school and must go elsewhere. I sadly walk out of the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language and say “Zai Jian” or “good-bye” to Christian and James.
If you have young children and would like to get them enrolled in Chinese Language School or would like to find out more click HERE or call:
Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language
2430 West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53233-1828
(414) 934-4340
