Cultural Exchange

Tamula Drumm has taught English as a second language in China, and now, she is teaching Mandarin Chinese for the first year at Our Lady of the Elms school in Akron.

Her addition to the school provides not only another world language option to students — they can currently also take French, Spanish or Latin — but also an international exchange student program she helped bring to the school during this pandemic era when cultural awareness is particularly important.

“It opens doors to learning about other cultures and opens doors for opportunities for them too,” says Drumm, who is one of Akron sculptor Don Drumm’s daughters.

Eighth graders can take a foreign language for high school credit so Drumm devised advanced lesson plans for exploratory sixth and seventh grade classes that emphasized reading, writing, speaking and listening to Chinese and teaching some vocabulary that she would normally teach in an introductory high school course.

“I was so impressed with these girls, with what they were able to do,” says Drumm, who has been teaching Chinese for over 13 years, most recently at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where she grew the program from 16 to 135 students. “I can see some of them really love the challenge of it.”

Since the beginning of the school year, Drumm has expanded her lessons all the way down to kindergarten. For younger students, who she teaches once a week, she starts by teaching them “Hello” in Chinese, as well as “What is your name?” and “My name is.” Next, she asks students to name panda stuffed animals by saying, “His name is” and filling in the blank — some recent name choices: Lavender, Flower and Snowflake. For second through fifth graders, she made booklets that helped them learn how to write Chinese characters.

“They have very high visual literacy,” she says.

“I was stunned.”

Drumm also shares her experiences living in China with students, by telling them stories, playing them Chinese songs and having her husband bring in moon cakes for students to try during Lunar New Year.

“It got us learning not only the language but the cultural aspect of Chinese,” says seventh grader Seher Saini, who hopes to continue with Chinese classes throughout the years. “Her personal experience helps us learn and relate to the material.”