Growing up, Rose Gong saw her parents teach English to students in China.

That began her interest in languages and she became an English teacher herself.

Now, two decades after leaving China, Gong will teach Chinese for the first time at Eastern.

Eastern will offer introductory Chinese for the first time in the fall.

The original desire to expand the foreign language curriculum to include an Asian language, such as Japanese, Chinese or Korean, grew out of the new Asian Studies minor.

Right now, Eastern offers French, German, Spanish, Latin and Russian, on demand.

Russian has not been offered in previous years. The last two times it was offered the class did not reach necessary enrollment numbers, said Stephen Canfield, chair of the foreign language department.

Department members discussed the possibility of adding an Asian language to the program, but their main concern was finding a professor, he said.

There are no Chinese-speaking professors in the foreign language department but there are a number of people around campus who do speak Chinese, Canfield said.

Jinhee Lee, assistant professor of history and coordinator of the Asian Studies minor, said taking the class might be a good start for people to learn more about Asian issues.

“Learning the language is the beginning of developing an understanding of the culture,” Lee said.

Gong agreed to take on the class for the fall.

She is no stranger to teaching her native language. Gong taught Chinese in Champaign at a heritage school for students who were born in the United States with parents who speak Chinese.

She received her bachelor’s degree in China and began to teach English.

In 1986, Gong came to America and received her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She then received her doctorate from Ohio State University.

Gong is a professor in the College of Educational and Professional Studies at Eastern. She will continue to teach educational foundations classes and the diversity of schools in society in addition to the introductory Chinese.

The need to learn Chinese is because of China’s global society economically and the United States’ exchange with China, she said.

The Asian studies minor was approved in May 2006 and it was first offered in Fall 2006.

The minor’s curriculum is set and they are waiting for department, college and university to approve the addition of Chinese to the curriculum.

If enough students are interested in Chinese, the course has a chance to become a permanent addition to the foreign language department.

One student has already inquired about the class, Gong said.