Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

From the Vancouver Sun in British Columbia, Canada.

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B.C. needs more Mandarin immersion classes, prof says

By Graeme Wood, With A File From Janet Steffenhagen, Special To The Sun

If B.C. truly wants to be a “gateway” for business with China, it will have to invest in more Chinese-language classes from kindergarten to university, says the head of the department of Asian studies at the University of B.C.

“We live in a province that is heavily oriented toward Asia in business ties, but the reality on the ground in terms of investments, so citizens of B.C. know something about Asia, is essentially a generation behind,” Ross King said.

King said B.C. should have a robust immersion program in Mandarin — a “pipeline” from kindergarten to university — to keep pace with developing cultural and business ties with China.

He said B.C. has done well over the last decade to build the “hardware” for business with China such as expanding port facilities, but has done nothing to develop its “software,” such as training British Columbians who can work proficiently in both Mandarin and English.

The education ministry said recently it is up to individual school boards to build their own Chinese immersion programs. King said this policy has to change.

“It’s fairly laissez-faire from the bottom up, but you need it from the top down as well,” he said.

There are only a handful of schools in Metro Vancouver that offer Mandarin classes to elementary school children but only one — Walton elementary in Coquitlam — is an immersion-style program, and it is offered only in kindergarten and Grade 1.

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