Chinese Culture

The Diocese of Columbus was awarded a federal grant from the Department of Education to create a fully articulated K-12 Chinese culture and Mandarin language program. The grant is called the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) and totalled approximately $1.2 million over three years. Our Lady of Peace is proud to have been chosen one of the first two elementary schools and eight additional middle schools to take part in this grant.

The program developed by the Diocese of Columbus is called Project CLASS: Chinese Language Articulated Sequential Studies. The program is divided into two sections. The K-5 portion focuses on Chinese culture and very basic Mandarin language skills. The second portion focuses on the teaching of the Mandarin Chinese language. This portion began in grade 6 in the fall of 2007 expanded into grade 7 in 2008 and grade 8 in 2009.

The K-5 portion consists of integrating Chinese culture and language into our existing curriculum using project based learning in a collaborative atmosphere. Our students work on projects creating video, audio, pictoral or other types of projects which they share with their Chinese counterparts.

The teaching of Chinese is quite different from the teaching of more common languages. The emphasis is on listening and speaking skills. A qualified teacher, provided through the grant, uses videoconferencing to simultaneously teach in numerous schools throughout the diocese.

The students and staff of Our Lady of Peace are excited to be part of this progam which will help grow a new generation of students who will have learned, from an early age, how to work collaboratively.