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Perry Township now offering students Chin language class

The class helps engage Burmese American students by engaging them with their culture and heritage.

INDIANAPOLIS — Right now, there's a new class being offered at Perry Township Schools that's giving a huge group of students the opportunity to learn more about their heritage.

School is back in session at Southport High School, and in Mrs. Sui Tial's classroom, her students are getting a new lesson on their heritage and native language, Chin.

Chin is a language spoken mostly in Burma, India and Bangladesh, but in Perry Township, school leaders say the number of Burmese students who don't know how to speak their native language is growing.

"I really can't, like, write in Chin. When texting my parents, I text them in English, and they still understand it though," student Amos Cung said. 

Cung is in the new class, hoping to learn more about the language his parents speak.

"It's actually like one of my favorite classes right now," Cung said. 

The school district partnered with the Chin Community Center to finalize the curriculum taught to students. And Tial took on the role of teaching the class, being a refugee herself. 

Credit: WTHR
Students learn Chin in a new class taught in Perry Township schools. Perry Township has a large Burmese American population.

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"This is my first time teaching heritage language that I've never done before because my content is normally math, so it's exciting," Tial said. 

According to Tial, the district's push to make all students feel at home helped her decision to teach the class.

"We want them to learn how to read and write and speak with listening skills by the end of the school year," Tial said. "At least that they can communicate like a basic daily language."

"It's comfortable and nice. The environment is welcoming," student Jeremiah Kim said.

It's something students said will leave a lasting impression not just on them, but the Burmese community as a whole.

"If more classes like this exist and the language is more explored, overall, it would prevent the culture from dying overall," Kim said. 

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