National Chinese Language Conference early bird registration ends Feb. 28

The Asia Society’s National Chinese Language Conference is the premier conference for Chinese immersion educators. While there’s a lot about teaching Chinese in general, it’s the one conference that’s got a significant K-12 immersion track.

Which isn’t to diss the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, or ACTFL, which is the other big language teacher conference. )And yes, if you’ve heard your program talk about ACTFL proficiency levels, this is where they come from.)

But NCLC is all Chinese all the time. You can see some of the workshops here:

It’s not really a conference for parents, but a great one for teachers and principals. Especially if they’re somewhat new to their positions, it can give a sense of what’s out there, what works best and how programs can up their game. I’ve always wanted to send a few school board members, just so they can see what immersion can really do….

In many public school districts, parents fundraise to send a Mandarin immersion staffer or two, who then come back and present the information to their colleges. However because of COVID, NCLC is now virtual, so it would be possible to give more teachers and administrators access. Early bird tickets are $150.

I’ll be moderating a panel on parent issues at the conference, but there’s no pay involved so I feel ok suggesting it.

Here’s a video about the conference:

And here’s one from the 2018 conference

And here’s the former Prime Minister of Australia, because why not?