SPRINGDALE — The Har-Ber High School students who took Chinese I last year got the chance to continue their studies Monday.
Last week, the school finalized an agreement with the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative in Farmington to offer Chinese II from 8 to 8:45 a.m. Interactive video equipment was set up in a library room so students could take the class from an off-site instructor.
The Chinese textbooks were delivered to the school Friday, said Gordon Smith, strategic languages coordinator for the cooperative. Students had the day off Friday, so they started the class Monday.
Friday was also the deadline for schools to finalize their course arrangements with the Arkansas Department of Education. Otherwise the 12 students taking the class would have had to change their schedules.
“I didn’t want those kids to have Chinese I and not be able to have Chinese II,” Smith said.
AT A GLANCE
Chinese Courses
The Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative employs two visiting Chinese nationals who teach Chinese courses at eight high schools using distance-learning technology. The high schools are:
• Academics Plus Charter School in Maumelle
• Beebe
• Farmington
• Gravette
• Greenland
• Lincoln
• Pea Ridge
• Springdale Har-Ber High
Source: Northwest Arkansas Education Services Cooperative
The Arkansas Department of Education placed the school’s accreditation on probation this year because Michelle Fries, who taught the one Chinese class last year, was not certified to teach the course.
The district appealed the department’s decision, but the Arkansas State Board of Education rejected the appeal.
Har-Ber Principal Danny Brackett had hoped the school would be able to hire its own Chinese instructor this summer, but he could not find a qualified teacher.
The school planned to offer two Chinese I classes this year, but both were canceled shortly after the school year started. There were 45 students in the courses who had to select new classes.
Brackett said he held out on canceling the second-year class because it would have been detrimental to provide only one year of Chinese. Many colleges expect incoming freshmen to take two years of the same foreign language, he said.
Smith agreed it was important to offer the class to the second-year students.
Senior James Stamps said Fries did a good job teaching the class, but he looks forward to the distance-learning approach.
The class will be taught by Fang Xie, one of two Chinese nationals who teach Chinese for area schools using the distance-learning equipment.
Xie and Li Yufei came to the U.S. as part of two-year agreement with the Arkansas Department of Education and the Chinese government, Smith said. They teach Chinese to eight high schools.
The most challenging part about the new Har-Ber course will be getting the students caught up on where they should be in Chinese II, Xie said.
Students in the Chinese II class met with substitute teachers before the distance-learning arrangement was finalized. Fries also visited the class some days to help the students, said Evelyn McFadden, library media specialist.
Fries could not be reached for comment Monday. Her husband, Matt Fries, was contacted by telephone Monday and said he doubted she would have any comment.
Xie previously taught Chinese classes in Shanghai for American students in China through the Council for International Education Exchange. The number of students in the class grew each year she was there, she said.
Brackett said he wants to expand the school’s Chinese course offerings in future years.
There is increasing demand in the business world for Americans who speak Chinese, Smith said. This was one of the main reasons Farmington High School freshman Wade Reed decided to take Chinese I.
“In the business world, we deal a lot with China,” he said.