Chinese Program at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School—a small program but with extensive opportunities
By Shihling Chui-Dwyer
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School is a private college preparatory high school, located in the northwestern side of Indianapolis, with more than 800 students. It hired Mrs. Shihling Chui-Dwyer to start the Chinese program in 2014 and is currently offering Chinese 1 to Chinese 5 classes. In 2015, Brebeuf started its Chinese exchange program with Taipei Municipal Chenggong Senior High School (CGSH). A small class size is one of the unique features of the Brebeuf’s Chinese program, which provides a small family-like community, creates a close bond between students and their families in the Chinese classes and wins great support from parents.
Exchange Program
In view of the importance of Chinese in the global economy and the value of broadening students’ world view, Brebeuf worked to create a Chinese exchange program soon after it began to offer its first Chinese classes. It has hosted and sent several groups of exchange students since then. For students who have participated in the Chinese exchange program, it offered a once-in-a-life time opportunity for them to get first-hand experience with Chinese language and culture. Furthermore, staying with a host family gives students a fantastic chance to immerse themselves in an authentic Chinese-speaking environment. After this experience, many of these students then resolve to continue their Chinese learning at college.
Upper Left: Brebeuf students visited National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan
Upper Right: Brebeuf students and families welcomed CGSH exchange students at Indianapolis Airport
Bottom Right: CGSH exchange students at Brebeuf.
Bottom Left: Brebeuf students visited Taroko National Park in Taiwan.
Classroom Activities
A variety of interactive activities, assignments and projects make the Chinese learning experience at Brebeuf fun, inspirational and practical. Students practice and improve their language skills through authentic and hands-on activities.
Upper Left: A Chinese 4 student used Google Map to describe directions on a college campus of their choice.
Upper Right: Chinese 3 students used Google Slides to ask their classmates about a celebrity of their choice.
Bottom Right: Tea Menus made by Chinese 2 students.
Bottom Left: A Chinese 1 student shared her digital story book about her family through Story Jumper.
Chinese 4 students shared their Travel projects
Technology in the Chinese Classroom
Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School is a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) school, which allows students to bring their own devices (laptops, cellphones, or tablets) for the use of classroom activities and their assignments. The IT department at Brebeuf always provides necessary tech support for both teaching and learning by installing necessary high-tech devices and offering various training courses to encourage teachers to apply the latest online learning tools to teaching in order to create the best learning environment for students. For example, Mrs. Dwyer herself holds several certifications in using different online tools in teaching. Brebeuf’s Chinese program uses Google Classroom and incorporates activities from Nearpod, Kahoot, Gimkit, Quizlet in Chinese classes. Such interactive activities not only increase student engagement and motivate students to improve their Chinese, they also help the environment by reducing the amount of paper used at Brebeuf. In addition, Brebeuf’s Chinese program also shares students’ work and classroom activities through Instagram and Facebook to inform parents of what students have been doing in their Chinese classes.
Upper Left: Students worked collaboratively in groups to complete the cross-word puzzle on Jamboard
Upper Right: A vocabulary review game via Kahoot
Bottom Right: “My Twelve-Month Activities” story book by Chinese 2 students via Story Jumper
Bottom Left: Chinese 4 students shared their favorite food for Chinese New Year and their symbolic meanings via Padlet board
Cultural Lessons
Learning about the culture is an indispensable part of language learning. Mrs. Dwyer teaches different aspects of Chinese culture like holidays, food, and traditions through various cultural activities, hoping to raise students’ cultural awareness and to help them to better understand Chinese culture.
Upper Left: Sampling pomelo, a fruit eaten on Chinese Moon Festival.
Upper Middle: Making stir-fried rice.
Upper Right: Tea Ceremony lesson.
Bottom Right: Chopstick Game. Bottom Left: Practicing Chinese calligraphy.
Left: Students’ posters about Chinese New Year traditions and celebrations
Upper Right: Chinese New Year Treats, prepared by Mrs. Dwyer
Middle Right: Students learned to make dumplings
Bottom: Students got red envelops with their Chinese names written in Chinese calligraphy by Mrs. Dwyer
Respecting teachers has been an essential part of Chinese culture. During the Teacher Appreciation Week this year, all the Chinese students wrote thank-you notes in both English and Chinese for their teachers. Mrs. Dwyer delivered those notes to teachers to express students’ appreciation for their teachers’ hard work.
Alternative Graduation Celebration during the Pandemics
For students in Class 2020 and 2021, their final days at Brebeuf were quite different from that of past graduates due to the pandemic. Mrs. Dwyer made a graduation video with numerous pictures taken from the past four years to celebrate these students’ achievements in their four-year Chinese learning journey. It was quite a touching moment when students watched the video in their last Chinese class to reflect on what they have experienced in their Chinese classes and how much they have grown. These videos were also shared with students’ parents to thank them for their support of the program and marked a perfect conclusion of these students’ Chinese class at Brebeuf.
