As Zhang Yuan walks through the cafeteria at Baggaley Elementary School, the sixth-graders greet her with waves.
"Ni hao, Zhang laoshi," they say, their normally English-speaking voices trying to capture the Chinese inflection of "Hello, teacher Zhang."
"Ni hao," Zhang says, returning their greeting with a wave and a smile and a sense of pride.
Zhang, 32, a visiting professor from China, taught them to say "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank you" and other words in her native tongue.
While she was nervous at first about teaching Chinese to American students, that fear has disappeared in just a few weeks.
"From their eyes you can see such a true passion, so I feel so excited now," she said.
Zhang is teaching Chinese classes in the Greater Latrobe School District this year as part of a collaborative effort between the district, St. Vincent College, the University of Pittsburgh and the Chinese government.
Zhang, a professor of Chinese language and literature at Wuhan University, came to the United States as part of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese program meant to foster a worldwide understanding of China.
This year, the University of Pittsburgh became one of 130 offices of the institute around the world. St. Vincent College joined as a satellite of the Pitt program.
Serving the community
Zhang arrived at St. Vincent in August to teach elementary, intermediate and advanced Chinese courses.
But St. Vincent offered her services to Greater Latrobe, which has been looking at adding Chinese to its language offerings.
Senior high school Assistant Principal Chad Krehlik said the district has been talking about globalization and how to prepare its students for the world economy.
"We're listening to what our students are telling us, what our community is telling us and what our local business leaders are telling us," Krehlik said.
It's the very reason why St. Vincent is sending Zhang to Greater Latrobe classrooms as part of the pilot program.
"We know that China is a huge part of the global economy today," said Tina Phillips Johnson, assistant professor of history and director of Chinese studies at St. Vincent. "We are all touched either directly or indirectly by Chinese products or Chinese goods."
Johnson's hope is that other districts in Westmoreland County will take advantage of the program in the future. Derry Area School District plans to start a pilot program next school year.
Beyond language
Three days a week, Zhang teaches at Baggaley Elementary. She's at the senior and junior high schools two days a week for an after-school Chinese class.
At Baggaley, Zhang is teaching Chinese lessons as part of the sixth-grade social studies curriculum.
Zhang rotates from class to class, spending three days a week with one class before moving to the next until the end of the school year.
Principal Gennaro Piraino said because students were learning about ancient cultures, including China, it seemed like a perfect fit.
"China's become such a world power in terms of economics," Piraino said. "The fact of the matter is, this group of students will have to learn to interact with the Chinese culture, the Chinese language, the Chinese customs if they're going to pursue careers in business."
Zhang teaches the students basic words and phrases from hello and goodbye to thank you. She tells them how to say "United States" in Chinese, writing the syllabic pronunciation on the chalkboard.
"In Chinese we never write in syllables," she said. "We write in characters."
And then she writes the Chinese character for "United States."
"This character is beautiful, which means you have a beautiful country," she said.
Emily Jackson, 11, had her first Chinese lesson on Monday. She said it was "fun" and "cool."
"I think it's a good thing," she said. "I think it's important to learn languages."
At Greater Latrobe Junior-Senior High School, Chinese is being offered as a voluntary after-school program two days a week.
"No grade. No credit," Krehlik said. "This is just for the love of knowledge."
Level of difficulty
About a half dozen students participated in a session at the senior high this week, although double that have come to some classes.
Mike Roach, a 17-year-old senior who plans to pursue a career in international business, said the Chinese class will give him a jump-start.
But he's found the language is not easy.
"I can't imagine being fluent in it," Roach said. "I don't know how long it would take to learn it."
Senior Lindsay Kramer, 17, decided to add Chinese to her complement of German and Spanish classes.
"Languages are like my passion, I guess," Kramer said. "I want to learn as many languages as I can."
So far, the high school students have learned a few words and phrases. They've also learned their Chinese names.
Kramer's is Ke Ling Shan -- the "Ke" standing in for Kramer and "Ling Shan" replacing Lindsay.
Zhang explains that one of the Chinese characters in Kramer's first name means "tree."
"Lindsay in English means 'of the linden tree' so that's really cool," Kramer said.
The students spend part of the class talking to each other in Chinese -- introducing themselves, saying hello and saying goodbye.
Zhang encourages them to speak Chinese whenever they see each other.
"Use your Chinese names," she said, "and share your little secret."
