I would note that whether or not being bilingual actually makes you smarter or better at executive function, it’s still a heck of a useful thing to be able to speak two more more languages. The Bitter Fight Over the Benefits of Bilingualism For decades, some psychologists have claimed that bilinguals have better mental control.…

Monday, Feb. 8 is the Lunar New Year, an event celebrated by over one billion people worldwide. Students in Chinese immersion programs across North America will have spent the weeks leading up to it learning about the holiday the Chinese call Spring Festival by doing things like making red lanterns, singing songs and maybe learning…

February and March are the months many Mandarin immersion programs send out letters of placement or acceptance to new families. As they rev up for new incoming Kinder classes, several schools have asked if they can buy my book, A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion, in bulk for those new parents. The answer is yes, and…

These are from CARLA, the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota. If your program is new, it’s a great place for staff and teachers to get the basics. And if your program’s been around for awhile, the new workshop on character literacy (i.e. how to get kids reading in Chinese)…

Dual Immersion Program at Alhambra Unified School District January 26th, 2016 by Monrovia Weekly By May S. Ruiz There has been a sea change in the employment landscape in the past decade as evidenced by shifts in what is available to people looking for work. Some positions that today’s youth would one day fill might…

For parents who don’t read Chinese, we have Mr. Zhou to thank for at least having a fighting chance when we help our kids with homework. Beth Zhu ni shengri kuaile! Father of Pinyin turns 110 years old, celebrates with a strawberry-topped cake Meet Zhou Youguang, he just turned 110 years old on January 13th. In his…

A bilingual mom’s got a nice blog series going about about building up a Chinese library for her bilingual kids. Note that she’s from Taiwan and is only talking about books in traditional characters. This won’t be helpful to folks with kids in programs that teach simplified, which are the majority in the U.S. But even so…