In Woodbury, A Leg Up On World Language

Plenty of parents can brag that their children received A’s on their last algebra tests or are reading a grade level above the other students, but few can likely say their kids are mastering another language before junior high.

Andrea Backlund is one of those parents.

Her 8-year-old daughter Brooke, a student at in Woodbury, is also enrolled at Jinglun Chinese School.

Backlund, a member of the Jinglun PTA, said her daughter heard of the program from a first-grade friend whose mother teaches at the school. Prior to enrolling at Jinglun, which offers classes in Mandarin

Chinese—the most commonly spoken language in the world—Singapore Mathamatics and dance, Brooke attended Chinese classes in Minneapolis.

When Backlund found out about the Woodbury school, she decided to sign her daughter up for classes there because it was so much closer to home.

So far, Backlund said Brooke has thoroughly enjoyed it.

“She’s met a lot of neat and fun people,” she said. “It’s thrilling for her to be able to know things that her mom and dad don’t even know.”

The school, which starts up again in September, is a nonprofit and has been operating in Woodbury since 2007. Jinglun offers classes Saturdays, 9:45 a.m. to 12:35 p.m., at Woodbury High School.

Bobbie Johnson, one of the school's founders, said Jinglun was started after she and a group of other Chinese parents got together and decided they wanted a Chinese-based education for their kids beyond what public schools were offering.

“Some Chinese parents wanted a better quality of Chinese program for our own kids,” she said. “We decided to start a school for our kids. Later, we found out there is a big demand for Chinese programs, so we expanded our program to kids who don’t speak Chinese at home and added math.”

She said there are currently about 70 students enrolled at the school, from preschoolers to high school freshmen, and Jinglun is looking to offer more classes in the future.

However, most of the teachers at Jinglun have full-time jobs and can only teach one day a week, so expansion could be difficult.

Though many parents may not have their children learning Mandarin or another Asian language, the number of those who do in the U.S. is on the rise.

In 2009, Time Magazine profiled a Minneapolis school where elementary students of every ethnicity study subjects ranging from math to American history in Mandarin.

Backlund said emersion schools of every language are growing in popularity as parents seek to give their kids an edge in their education.

Researchers say the best time for children to start learning a second language is before the age of 12; as people age, mastering additional languages becomes more difficult.

When the Minneapolis Chinese emersion school started in 2006, it was the first of its kind in the nation, but since that time more have popped up in Minnesota and around the U.S., and some public schools are even offering Mandarin lessons.

and high schools have been offering Mandarin classes since 2008.

“I think Washington County is on the right track in adding world languages to it’s curriculum,” Backlund said. “I think it benefits students in the same way music and art does—it expands their world view.”