USU Grad Becomes First Chinese Teacher at Morgan High School

By: Audra Chappel, Utah Statesman

A recent USU graduate, Mark Stevenson, joined the staff of Morgan High School in Morgan, Utah this year, as their Chinese teacher. This is the first time Morgan High has had a Chinese program, and only five other high schools in Utah offer Chinese courses, Stevenson said.

 

Stevenson graduated last summer from Utah State. First, he majored in English with a dual minor in Mandarin Chinese and Physical Education. He then went through USU's secondary education program to be certified to teach.

 

Stevenson first learned to speak Chinese when he served a mission for the LDS Church in Taiwan.

 

Shaylene Thackbray, a student of Stevenson's, said, "The class is just so much fun. Every Friday we have a culture day that really adds excitement to the class. One of the first weeks we cooked a traditional Chinese food."

Thackbray, a junior at Morgan High, takes the class with her brother. She said the language is difficult to study, but will benefit her in the future. Exactly how it will help in the future may not be certain, but if an opportunity comes, she will be well-equipped with a great language skill, she said.

 

Stevenson's other students have great things in store for them - he is planning to take them to China and let them practice their new skills when everything is ready. A school in Ogden has invited them to travel to China with them, but right now Stevenson is trying to get more students involved and move the program along.

These new language skills Stevensons' students are now learning will not only help them with future travel plans and business transactions, but advantages are already showing up while they are still in high school. As Stevenson put it, learning a language really teaches them how to study.

"Learning Chinese really helped me in college. It taught me how to study and what would work best for me - Chinese is a difficult language," Stevenson said.

Learning this difficult language and the demand that it takes on time will really benefit the students, Stevenson said. It will teach them how to study.

 

The way the world is changing, the ability to speak different languages may not only be convenient, but almost necessary in the future. Stevenson indicated that those students planning on working anywhere in a business or engineering field would be greatly benefited by different languages - including Chinese.

 

"There are now more engineers that come from China than America - especially when dealing with software programs," Stevenson said.