Chinese Lecturer Len McClure never thought that he would be teaching Chinese. Beginning as a radio-television-film adjunct, he heard that the foreign languages department was looking for a Chinese teacher. Because he had lived in Asia for 23 years, he applied for the job.

    "They put me through a rigorous test with a native speaker, and I passed," McClure said.

    Now, three years later, McClure said he wouldn't trade teaching Chinese for anything, but also notes that there are also two major misconceptions about the Chinese language.

    "Chinese is a fairly easy language. In Chinese, you'll never have to conjugate a verb. It's very straightforward." McClure said.

    He also said that many students go onto the SAC Web site and see that other teachers here are either native speakers, or have names that would suggest that they are.

    "Then for Chinese, they see McClure. I took Chinese from native speakers and when I came out, I could barely speak it because they didn't know how to teach it to an English-speaking student," McClure said.

    McClure is better able to understand the problems that some students face when they try to learn Chinese for the first time.

    "I know what difficulties I had when I was learning Chinese at 22 for the first time, and I'm able to show them how to skip those problems," McClure said

    Despite the fact that Chinese is a relatively easy language to learn, there are thousands of characters to learn and not even a native Chinese speaker will know them all.

    Although the average high school student in China will graduate knowing more than 3,000 characters, a Chinese student at this college will learn how to read and write 300 characters in one semester, and another 300 if they continue in the course.

    Because each word in Chinese is made up of one, two or three characters, a student can become proficient in the language while here.

    "It's sort of like Lego pieces," McClure said. "If you write characters for 30 minutes, your mind is sharp for the rest of the day. My students are always surprised by how easy and fun it is."

    McClure said that at the end of two semesters, students should be able to ask another Chinese speaker what their name is, how they are feeling and what they hope to accomplish, among other topics.

    Because it is a four-credit class, McClure also teaches the culture and history of China. Frequently, he uses movie clips to illustrate a lesson.

    "It's somewhat over their heads," McClure said, "but they enjoy it when they can pick up phrases they know. Watching a movie with duct tape over the English subtitles is the closest you can get to immersion."

    He also said that he shares real-life experience with his students and that he allows students who have been to China to share their stories.

    There are several reasons that a student would take Chinese.

    Some students take the class for practical reasons, seeing themselves working there in the future.

    Other students take the class because they have participated in martial arts and would like to know more about the culture and language. Still others take Chinese simply because it isn't as common as Spanish or French.

    "I always imagine one of my students on a street in China," McClure said, "and they're able to read the signs and talk to a native speaker."