Ya!Ya! lessons teach children Chinese Saturdays at MCPL

Children can now learn basic Chinese on Saturday afternoons at the Monroe County Public Library.

Ya!Ya! Chinese for Preschoolers is a language program through Bridges: Children, Languages, World that teaches the Chinese language and culture to children.

Ya!Ya! Chinese for Preschoolers is free and open to the public.

The class is offered at noon on Saturdays in the Learn and Play Space at the library, and no registration is necessary.

“I hope the little that they do learn sticks with them while exposing the kids to other cultures and showing them that it is nothing weird but just another culture,” team leader Logan Phillippo said.

Amy Frank, a Green County resident, said her 5-year-old son loves learning Chinese.

“He retains the information,” she said. “We have a Chinese exchange student who is impressed. We thought he might be interested and like it, and it would give him more opportunities in a structured setting, which would relate to behavior in school.”

The exposure of a new language to kids at a younger age is beneficial, Phillippo said.

“We live in global society today,” he said. “More exposure of kids to the multicultural world at an earlier age is the number one goal of the program. We hope they learn the language and have fun with it.”

Bridges Language Coordinator Naoko Ozaki said she thinks the class is successful and she has seen a big improvement with the regular students.

“We expose the students to different cultures and languages at an early age, not expecting them to be fluent but to realize the different sounds,” Ozaki said. “We hope both kids and parents learn. We encourage parents to use these words at home.”

Phillippo said the course has also helped him.

“My goal was to get experience teaching English abroad, and so far it has been really helpful,” he said. “I have learned a lot.”

IU students who are teaching less commonly taught languages work as instructors for the Bridges language programs, which are in partnership with the Department of Literacy, Culture and Language Education in the School of Education.

“We want to open children’s minds to other languages people speak and diversity in general,” said Martha Nyikos, professor in the Department of Literacy, Culture and Language Education. “It also builds literacy skills. It builds a greater awareness of their own language as they meet the new language. It increases cognitive recognition.”
 
Nyikos said the children thrive on the culture of Bloomington.

“This is a really great program, and many children are pleased with Bloomington and all the richness,” she said. “We are able to teach the culture and language here, and children seem to thrive on that.”