Market and Advocate for Your Chinese Language Immersion Program

By Christina Burton Howe

Your community will be curious and interested in your Chinese language program, but not all stakeholders will understand the need for teaching critical languages and the benefits in using the immersion approach. Community members—teachers, administrators, parents, students, state education professionals, legislators, business members, heritage groups, and funders—will each hold different, and at times conflicting, perspectives. Identifying and understanding these different perspectives is the first step in designing a thoughtful marketing and advocacy plan.

Anticipating the different reactions to your program will help you build a broad base of support during the initial program planning and opening phases, and to sustain that support through the years ahead. Pre-program implementation and ongoing sustainability demand consistent, proactive ways of getting your message out to the community. It is crucial that your district or school take the lead in initiating this dialogue, in branding and marketing your program to potential students and their parents, and in developing an ongoing public relations strategy that engages the different constituencies.

Please read more here.