High school students usually spend three hours a day studying and completing homework for all of their classes. Senior Genevieve Hyatt spends three hours studying for their AP Chinese Language and Culture course alone. And while most students can look to classmates for help with their homework, Hyatt is largely left to their own devices– they are the only student taking AP Chinese.
Hyatt’s journey to becoming the sole pupil in this class began years ago, years before they even attended Barstow. Hyatt has always enjoyed studying languages, which was fostered by their parents’ encouragement. When Hyatt was five, their parents enrolled them in Academie Lafayette, a public K-12 French immersion school. Additionally, Hyatt’s mother speaks French and has been teaching them the language for most of their life.
“I never really had a choice [to learn a second language],” Hyatt remarks, “but luckily, I really liked it, so it worked out well for me.”
Hyatt would take on a third language in the sixth grade as Academie Lafayette required middle schoolers to take another language course. Given the choice between Chinese and Spanish, Hyatt chose Chinese. French and Spanish have a high lexical similarity, so Hyatt figured that they could study Spanish on their own. Chinese, Hyatt’s first encounter with a Sinitic language, would likely need more teacher guidance.
They took Chinese classes for the rest of middle school, but upon entering Barstow as a freshman, Hyatt recalls difficulty adjusting to the new program.
“Coming from Academie Lafayette, I had a different teacher than my [Barstow] classmates did, and she was much less rigorous than Mr. Payne. So I had a lot of catch-up work to do when I came,” Hyatt explains.
Hyatt obviously did catch up to be able to take AP Chinese. Most AP courses at Barstow require a teacher recommendation, but no course seems as difficult to get into as AP Chinese. Glen “Chuck” Payne, the Upper School Chinese teacher, is very selective about who he allows into AP Chinese. These high standards come not from wanting to make the class as small as possible, but from making sure that the students can take on such a rigorous course.
“He [Mr. Payne] wants to make sure that the student is aware of what they’re getting themselves into and that they are passionate about the class,” Hyatt says. “He doesn’t want you to crash, so he really does just recommend it to the people that he thinks are ready for it.”
Enrollment in AP Chinese is low not only at Barstow, but also across the nation. About 13,300 students took the AP Chinese exam in 2021 while 148,000 students took the AP Spanish Language exam and 18,300 students took the AP French Language exam. The difficulty of the course has certainly contributed to this.
Hyatt agrees that this course is definitely their most rigorous class at the moment. They actually take Advanced Chinese Topics, another senior Chinese class, as well. This means that in addition to the homework and tests from Advanced Chinese Topics, they also have extra AP-specific assignments and exams.
Since it is a combined class, Hyatt also has to self-study a lot more. This makes the course even more difficult and relies on diligent self-regulation. Fortunately, Hyatt has found a form of studying that works well for them. Depending on the format of the test, Hyatt will study in different ways.
For instance, if the test requires English translation of Chinese words and phrases, Hyatt will make a chart for the English translation and the Pinyin translation. If it’s a reading test, Hyatt will type out the entire text in Chinese, Pinyin, and English. They will then go over every word to make sure that they understand the meaning in English. Hyatt likes to practice their Chinese in everyday fashion as well. They watch videos and shows in Chinese and have conversations with friends in Chinese.
Of course, Mr. Payne is also always there to provide guidance.
“Mr. Payne will give me the materials and tell me when I have a test, and it’s up to me to know how to prepare. But he’s also very willing to answer any questions I might have, so that helps out a lot,” Hyatt says.
Besides extra work, Hyatt also has additional responsibilities in class. If Mr. Payne needs something written on the board, that job is usually given to Hyatt. If a student has a question and Mr. Payne is helping someone else, Hyatt will answer them. This is actually part of how Mr. Payne teaches the AP Chinese class; teaching others is a good way to learn. In addition to helping their classmates, Hyatt becomes more familiar with the subjects and language.
Hyatt’s dedication to Chinese even extends outside of Barstow. Although language courses are an integral part of the Barstow education, not many students plan to major in a foreign language in college, and much less pursue it as a career. This sets Hyatt apart; the unique qualities of language and their love for them have motivated them to plan on studying linguistics and then working in the field.
“When I’m studying a language, I’m not just studying to speak; I’m studying because I want to know about how the language works and why it is structured the way it is,” Hyatt explains. “I remain passionate about languages.”
More than a strong grasp of the language, perhaps genuine passion and interest in the language has led Hyatt to take one of the most difficult courses at Barstow. No, AP Chinese is not just a way of filling Barstow’s language credit requirement for Hyatt; it’s a way to enrich their understanding of the world and language.
