This fall the Jericho School District welcomed a tapestry of new and distinguished administrators to our gracious home. Each brings an array of keenness, perspective and expertise to our community. The Daily China is thrilled to welcome Dr. Lionel Chan, Jericho’s new Curriculum Associate for World Languages and FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences). His work as an educator of language and culture aligns with my passions, recognizing the importance of linguistics as a window to understanding each other as global citizens.
Dr. Chan grew up in New York City – a place where various languages and cultures from around the world converge. He has always enjoyed being a learner of languages, such as Cantonese, English, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and French. He studied various languages throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies at New York University. Moreover, expanding this scope of linguistics, Chan earned his doctorate in theoretical linguistics from the City University of New York Graduate Center, where his research focused on second language acquisition. He believes that languages are like an employee’s vacation time at a big corporation: if you don’t use it, you lose it!
Dr. Chan is enthusiastic to share his own experiences, personality and style of education with Jericho. When I visited his office in September, it was quiet and simply decorated. Most recently, it is bright and adorned with tokens of his travels, including those from Spain, Puerto Rico, Panama, Italy, China, also with added souvenirs from his beloved New York Yankees. Our conversation was special, as we conversed in both Mandarin and Italian, reflecting on the importance of language and cultural education to bridge differences and increase acceptance of our society worldwide. Our commonality and shared interests embrace the importance of history, language, culture and current events into the forefront of our classrooms. Humanities in the context of history allows for new perspectives and learning. For instance, the transition from the Savoy monarchy to the Italian Republic provides a parallel to the transition from the late Qing Dynasty to the Chinese Republic under Sun Yat-Sen. This history lesson provides an understanding of the fascinating flow from monarchy to democracy in both nations.
This past October, Dr. Chan joined 宋老师 (Mrs. April Song), our celebrated and wonderful AP Chinese teacher, and 16 high school Chinese language students to Beijing and Xi’an for our yearly exchange program with the Xi’an Middle School of Shaanxi Province. Everyone had the chance to enjoy and appreciate Chinese culture, visiting the beloved TerraCotta Warriors, and the Forbidden City. Dr. Chan found the time that Jericho students spent with the Xi’an Middle School students and faculty to be very valuable, as all students gained greater understanding of each country’s culture, shared scholarly interests and educational resources. Both Dr. Chan and 宋老师 thank Sharyn Wang, the longtime International Liaison in Xi’an and the distinguished members of their faculty, for welcoming us to their school. This coming February, he will welcome back his new friends from Xi’an to our school, opening our homes, hearts and passion for learning. We are truly grateful for Dr. Chan’s role as an advisor, administrator, diplomat, teacher and friend.
Amazing article! Nice to know a bit more about Mr.Chan! I love how he said, “if you don’t use it, you lose it!” I completely agree with him. I used to know Chinese fluently when I was in pre-K nd kindergarten, but stopped afterwards. I was reintroduced to Chinese in sixth grade, but it was like I was new to the language. I had to start all over again. I wish that I could hav continued speaking Chinese throughout elementary school so I could be more advanced. Awesome pictures! It seems like the trip to China was a lot of fun!
Such a cool article! I went on a trip this past October to China. Dr. Chan was one of our chaperones along with my teacher, Mrs. Song. He was always very caring and took very good care of all of us that went. I find his background so interesting since he is ethnically Chinese but he spoke fluent Spanish growing up. I was able to talk to him during the trip and learned many things about him such as his knowledge of 7 different languages at a mastery level.
I loved the amount of information and detail put into this article! I also love that you welcomed Dr. Chan so warmly into our school with this article! It seems that Dr. Chan is a very talented individual that has a passion for languages, which I know you also do, Matthew. His background in language is very interesting, and receiving an education from NYU must have been a great experience.
Wonderful article, Matthew! The details describing your interactions with Dr. Chan are great! We’ve all appreciated his presence here in Jericho and hope that he’ll continue to nurture our Chinese programs years after we graduate! His impact on our language department has already been felt and I cannot wait to see what the future brings for the Chinese Honor Society! Keep up the great work!