Chinese Government Sends Surprise Gifts to HHH

With 160 of its students currently studying Mandarin Chinese, the Half Hollow Hills Schools District is a pioneer on Long Island when it comes to teaching the most widely spoken language on the planet. 

Half Hollow Hills is one of just 100 districts in the nation that are part of the Asia Society's Confucius Classrooms Network and for the past several years, through that partnership, the district has received $10,000 from Hanban, the educational arm of the Chinese government, in support of the district's efforts in teaching and promoting the language. 

This year, the school district not only received a bump to $11,000, but also a few surprise gifts. 

"Out of the blue, they simply emailed me and said guess what, we are sending you some gifts," Francesco Fratto, the district's director of world languages, said last Friday before prying open two large wooden crates that contained a touch screen TV, two computers, a color printer, a camera for video-teleconferencing and a shelving unit.

Fratto said the gifts, which also included teaching items related to the Chinese Spring Festival, will help motivate and excite Half Hollow Hills students who are studying the language. 

The Mandarin Chinese program in the district has grown from about 12 students when it launched five years ago to 160 students spread across both middle and high schools. Students in grades 6-10 currently have the option to study the language and that will extend to 12th grade, with AP Mandarin Chinese exams to be taken, over the next couple of years, Fratto said. 

There are currently fewer than 10 districts on Long Island that offer Mandarin Chinese classes and Fratto praised Half Hollow Hills school officials for allowing the program to thrive.

"We are one of the few [districts] that said you know what, Chinese is critically important," Fratto said. "We are not going to eliminate our current language offerings. We are going to put Chinese on par with the others." 

There are two full time Chinese teachers and one part time teacher in the district, Fratto said, adding that all three are dual-certified to teach other languages as well. 

Finding alternative sources of funding and partnerships, such as the one with Hanban, are crucial in the current economic climate, Fratto said, adding that school districts are not getting the support they need from the state education department or Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

In the future, the district's relationship with Hanban could grow further. Speaking of the gifts, Fratto said: "It's not just one way. Eventually they want to extend this with our students visiting their schools and their students visiting us and they learn from each other. We want the same thing. We want our children to be able to work, travel and communicate with native speakers."