Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a program designed to help students learn a language in new and effective ways while enhancing cultural awareness. On this episode of the Supercast, we visit with Chinese Dual Language Immersion students and teachers from Southland Elementary School to find out why they love learning another language. Find out what happens when we follow the students on a fascinating field trip to a Buddhist temple.

We're here with two teachers from Southland Elementary School on the field trip to the Cambodian Buddhist Temple. Thank you very much for letting me join you. Go ahead and introduce yourselves, please.

Xiaoyu Fan:
This is Xiaoyu Fan. I'm the fourth-grade teacher at Southland.

Jia Wei:
I'm Jia Wei, the Southland sixth-grade teacher.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what is the purpose of the field trip here? It's been really interesting hearing from them about the Buddhist religion, about and about the temple. Tell me about what you hope the students gain from this experience.

Xiaoyu Fan:
So we feel like this field trip provides a great opportunity for the students, not only in the immersion-like environment in the school but also brings that immersion experiment like experience for them outside school as well. And the purpose of coming to the Buddhism temple is to let them know, because Buddhism is the most people worship in China, it's their major religion. So we would like to have the students have an opportunity to not learn, not necessarily learn about the religion, but to expose them to the more diverse culture.

Jia Wei:
I agree with what Ms. Fan said. I think it's important for students to be more open-minded to the cultures and the philosophies and realize we can work together with other people also.

Anthony Godfrey:
It was fascinating to watch the kids. I got to sit up front. They were rapt with attention. They were paying close attention. They're fascinated by all of this. So I think it's really a rich cultural experience for them to be able to do this. So thank you for going to the work to make this possible.

Xiaoyu Fan:
Thank you. It's an honor to have you to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about teaching here in the United States and teaching in the Dual Immersion program.

Xiaoyu Fan:
It's, to me, it's such an eye-opening experience because in China usually you have one subject taught by one teacher. But here we have, we get to teach all different subjects in our language, in Chinese. And I think it's definitely seeing how much students learn, seeing how much students are able to say in Chinese, and see how much students love about the culture and learn about the culture and really immerse in that culture. It's very fascinating

Anthony Godfrey:
Learning a foreign language for me has always been important. My father was a foreign language teacher, but I still am always impressed when I see a teacher stand in front of children this young and speak rapidly and they understand and they respond. It's really, really remarkable. So thanks for doing such a great job with them.

Xiaoyu Fan:
Thank you. Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about yo