Mandarin or no mandarin | Teen Ink

Mandarin or no mandarin

February 29, 2012
By Irenesong0312 BRONZE, Waltham, Massachusetts
Irenesong0312 BRONZE, Waltham, Massachusetts
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I am a boarding student studying in the U.S. I am from China. My school is a private high school, the school have a lot Chinese student. So when the Chinese students speak mother language in school or class, many people will think” Oh! That’s OK! Because Chinese is their Mandarin!” But the Chinese students forget the most important point: We are in the United States! Our aim is to come to America to learn English and understand America culture. In our class, we often hear the teacher remind the students “English only!” or “No Chinese please!”. But still cannot change the phenomenon of Chinese students speak Mandarin in high school.

There are a lot reasons cause this phenomenon. The United States for us is a strange environment because of the different cultural backgrounds. In many cases Chinese students are unable communicate with each other, even emotional communication. So when we feel lonely, it is easier to express our real emotion use the mother language. Sometimes when Chinese students clear more speak in class or talking with other people they can improve English level. But embarrassing to speak English because their English generally is not good. Even some domestic students laugh at international student’s poor pronunciation. So Chinese students choose to speak Mandarin because they feel relax when speak mother language they can say something without thinking about words. And in our school we have a lot Chinese students, we are all boarding students living together in the school dorm, so we can have more opportunities to speak Chinese, so that it’s be even harder for us to practice English.

To address this problem we must adopt a tough resolution, For example, if the students speak Chinese, in class the teacher will deduct points the course or punish students. We can add a school rule: Chinese students at school cannot speak Mandarin. Obviously this method will not work. So we take some practical ways to alleviate this problem. We can let all Chinese students live in the host family, so they at the school during the day can communicate feelings, when they comes home at night can practice their English. Will allow students more relaxed, show their feelings. Let the school will more like home and produce more environments to help students improve their English!

Chinese students speak a lot Mandarin in America high school. It’s always existed among the students in the United States, and is a very serious problem. I believe that if this problem has improved, the Chinese students will be able to better study and live in the United States.


The author's comments:
I wrote this piece because I m a Chinese student studying in the U.S.

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