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Anne Ku not only tickles the keys on a piano, but she speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.
EdVenture, the University of Hawaii Maui College’s Office of Continuing Education, will offer two new courses on both of these topics. Ku, who has a doctorate in Decision Science, will teach both.
Ku says her mother tongue is Mandarin Chinese, and she plans to introduce her native language to students from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, starting April 7, over a six-week period that ends in May.
Having lived everywhere from Asia to the Mainland U.S. to Europe, Ku took courses in languages such as Japanese, French, German, Spanish and Dutch.
“Whether it be for traveling more comfortably as a tourist or incorporating self study to become fluent, the upcoming Mandarin Chinese class is sure to take you on an EdVenture to a whole other language,” says Marc Antosch, who does creative design and program promotion for the UH Maui College.”
“In many ways, Chinese is easier than English,” says Ku. “A sentence can be one or a hundred characters long. It’s a contextual language, not subject to strict grammatical rules like English or Japanese. Each character is a picture. That’s why Japanese and Korean still use Chinese characters – it’s easier to remember pictures than lengthy syllables.”
Intrepid travelers may expand business opportunities since China is a huge market and get priceless benefits of knowing enough Chinese to travel with an edge over those who do not know the language.
Language is more than just a bridge between cultures -as indicated by students in Ku’s Music in World Cultures class. Ku also teaches Learn to Play Piano from 10 a.m. to noon Fridays starting April 10 for three classes.
By learning Mandarin and singing Chinese songs in her classes, Ku can easily agree with supporting research that shows that music training helps greatly with linguistics.
A pioneer of the piano ensemble approach for which she won a UH Community College Innovation Grant, Ku will introduce this method for the first time.
The grant has funded the purchase of eight new digital pianos and arrangements for ensemble playing. For less than one hour of individual piano lessons, you get three two-hour sessions.
Ku elaborates that the class is good for “time-challenged adults who want instant gratification. As soon as they learn to read notes and play all 88 keys on the piano, they want to play songs they’ve heard before. There are short-cuts like reading lead sheets that help students learn from a different perspective. Traditionally, pianists rarely get to play with others as it’s a solo adventure, however in this class, students can play as an ensemble with different parts or in unison.”
Previous piano students said that they learned much more than just how to play the piano in class, they gained self-confidence and they learned how to read notes.
“Piano is teachable, not just talent,” one student says.
To register, call UH Maui College at 984-3231.