Greenville, Michigan Mandarin immersion program
Chinese teachers excited to get started in Greenville
Two teachers from China have arrived in Greenville to prepare for the new school year. From left are Chinese teacher Zu Shule, Spanish teacher and mentor Amber Guerreiro, kindergarten teacher Kristin Mier and Chinese teacher Li Xin. — Daily News/Kelli Ameling
GREENVILLE — Two teachers from China have arrived in Greenville and are preparing their lesson plans for the start of the school year Tuesday.
Zu Shule, 32, of the province of Shanxi in the city of Shuozhou, arrived in Greenville on Aug. 3. She will be teaching Mandarin Chinese to middle and high school students.
“It’s been wonderful,” she said of her experience in Greenville.
Li Xin, 31, of the province Yunnan in the city of Kunming, arrived Aug. 12. She will be teaching math in Chinese to kindergardeners at Walnut Hills Elementary School for half of each day.
“It’s so exciting and wonderful,” she said about arriving in Greenville.
Both Zu and Li came to Greenville through the Chinese Immersion Program, which will allow two classes to be taught at the high school, three at the middle school and split classes at the elementary school.
Greenville Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Diane Brissette said the program is enrollment driven, so the more students who sign up, the more classes will be offered.
Please read more here.
They’ve also got some nice videos up here.
There is a new private Mandarin/Spanish immersion school opening this July in San Jose, Calif. It is called Silicon Valley International School. The website is www.SVInternationalSchool.org.
It is a subsidiary of Premier International Language Academy in San Jose, established in 2008.
There is an Open House on Friday, May 31st from 10am-12pm. RSVPs are requested.
Info on their Mandarin immersion track:
School Services
- Elementary Grades: Jr. Kindergarten – Gr. 4
- STEM Middle School Program: Grades 5-8th
- Year-round Schedule: August – June (The lst day of school is July 29, 2013)
- Before and After School Extended Learning Program
- On-site Reggio Emilia Preschool
- School Hours for Grades Jr. K - 8th : 8:30am-3:00pm
Mandarin Immersion Track
The Mandarin language curriculum, taught by highly-qualified, native speaking teachers, emphasizes oral speaking skills and full literacy instruction through the content areas. Our Mandarin Language Arts program emphasizes:
- Traditional Characters
- Stroke Names, Stroke Order
- Radicals
- Content Area Studies (math, science, geography, history).
- History/Geography of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong
- Cultural Studies
- Pin Yin and Simplified Characters taught in the middle school program
- Zhu Yin taught to Heritage Language Speakers and in the middle school program
What homework looks like in Mandarin immersion
I’ve posted some homework examples and translations on a page on the blog here. If you’ve got other examples please feel free to send them and I’ll post them as well. I’m making my 6th and 4th graders translate them, so it’s good practice….
Calligraphy aids language learning
Updated: 2013-05-17 11:40
By Caroline Berg in New York (China Daily)
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A second grader at Waddell Language Academy in North Carolina draws the character for “sheep” in the seal and bronze calligraphy scripts. Yan Weihong / China Daily
Two years ago, the Confucius Institute at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina initiated a trial calligraphy immersion course in a K-8 language school to accelerate their learning of the Chinese language.
“Our mission is to teach Chinese language and to promote the culture,” said Yan Weihong, director of the Confucius Institute at Pfeiffer. “Language and culture cannot be separated; so, we’re trying to find out how we can use the culture aspect of calligraphy to support the language learning.”
Please read more here.
Language immersion high school nears approval
Students who finish elementary school fluent in French, Spanish or Chinese could soon have the chance to sharpen their language skills at an International Baccalaureate middle and high school.
The proposed District of Columbia International School, or DCI, is the creation of five public charter elementary schools with language immersion programs in Spanish, French and Chinese. The new charter school would offer grades six through 12, eventually serving up to 1,600 students in the former Delano Hall of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Ward 4.
Please read more here.
What it will look like when they’re done with school
Here’s a wonderful video from the 2013 Asia Society Chinese Language conference in Boston April 7 – 9. This is one of Chinese teachers being introduced by their students and it will make you see exactly how far students can go with Chinese at very young ages. It’s really inspiring.
Students Speak from Asia Society Partnership for Glo on Vimeo.
As a part of the Celebration of Teaching and Learning, four Chinese language students introduce their teachers and talk about learning Chinese.
