College students seem no stranger to Spanish or French classes, but ULM expands its horizons of foreign language education by offering beginning Chinese courses.

From the moment students walk into the classroom, the lesson transports them into a setting where speaking up is necessary.

Students greeted and thanked the professor for returned homework in Chinese upon entering the class, which showed how much of the langauge they have picked up on early on in the semester. The professor’s lesson includes vibrant images on slideshows that focus on an engaging combination of visual and auditory learning.

This beginning class in particular emphasizes pronunciation where repetition and memory is key. Though the class teaches the basics of the Chinese language, she adds tidbits of culture information.

In addition to class participation through answering questions, she also gave students an opportunity to act out a conversation in front of the class.

Though the class already sets itself apart in its availability, professor Lin Yi-An creates a different classroom experience.

For example, each student has a name card placed on his or her desk.  Yi-An gave students Chinese names by using the meaning of their first names to find a Chinese world with similar meaning and by using a similar sounding word to their last names. Yi-An calls on the students using their Chinese names and even joked that students sometimes forget their fellow classmates’ actual given names.

Because she calls on every individual multiple times throughout the class, participation is a must and it represents truly active learning.

Yi-An said she encouraged students to take Chinese because it is and will be the language used by a massive population in the world. Chinese langauge skills will be useful in traveling and business.

The class is quite different from other foreign language courses because it primarily focuses on speaking skills in basic Chinese.