Especially given the really high levels of air pollution in Beijing recently, this short film about how residents in Beijing are using kites to monitor air quality is fascinating. Called FLOAT, it’s about a project about how scientists are using China’s long history of kite flying as a tool. The video is on the new…

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From our friends at the Asia Society’s Chinese Language Initiatives   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,…

ORANGE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Orange Unified School District announced that the Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program will continue to be offered at Fletcher Elementary School for the 2013-14 school year. New classes of incoming kindergarten students are being recruited. Families interested in visiting the school for an orientation and tour of the Mandarin Immersion classroom…

[I’m looking for a few more to add to the list for my book. If you’ve got one, please email me or add it to comments. And I’d love some from Mandarin speaking parents as well. — Beth] You know you’re a Mandarin immersion parent* when….   Your third grader is starting to lose it…

By Elizabeth Weise Washington YuYing is a Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade Mandarin immersion charter school in Washington D.C. The school has four classes per grade in PreK, three in K, two in 1st and 2nd and one for 3rd-5th. They will be adding 6th grade next year. It began with 130 students in 2008 and…