A hard time learning the lingo

Last Sunday, I visited the University of Cincinnati's Raymond Walters College campus. It was the opening day of the new semester of the Greater Cincinnati Chinese School.

Over 18 weeks, the more than 200 students, aged between 5 to 17, will spend three hours every Sunday taking classes to learn to speak, read and write Chinese, as well as brushing up their skills in Chinese painting, calligraphy, dance and other aspects of Chinese culture.

I met an American couple, who sent their three children to the school to learn Chinese. Tracy Stammer, the mother, told me that she and her husband, Todd, have chosen home schooling for their children. However, they decided to send their children to the Chinese school to "learn something different", as China is becoming more and more important in the world these days, Stammer told me.