Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Chinese Early Language Immersion Network launches

    [In the interests of full disclosure, I’m a parent representative to the (unpaid) advisory board for CELIN. We need More More More! immersion consortia and resources–and here’s one of them. Check out their web pages, lots of useful info.]

    From our friends at the Asia Society:

    CELIN Connection

    We are happy to report that in June, the CELIN resource pages were launched at AsiaSociety.org. Here you will find profiles of CELIN staff and advisors, a directory of programs, and a program registration form for Chinese early language and immersion programs to register to be included in the national searchable directory. In the Research and Resources section you can access slides from presentations made at the 2014 NCLC by leaders in Chinese immersion programs. In addition, we are compiling a list of organizations that focus on language education, including Chinese.

    In August, we will launch a new section called Ask the Experts, where experts in the field will answer commonly asked questions important to the field. The first topic will be “Assessment and Assessment Rubrics Used with Young Chinese Language Learners.” Please send us any questions you would like to have answered. If you have resources to share about this topic, or a question and answer you would like to discuss, please include them with your name, affiliation, and email, and we will share these.

    As the Chinese saying goes, 抛砖引玉; with our act of throwing out some rocks as a starter, we hope to receive jade in return. The CELIN Connection section of this newsletter and the website are a work in progress, and we will continue to build on them. Visit the web pages and tell us what you think! We will be happy to incorporate your suggestions. Enjoy the summer. –Shuhan Wang and Joy Peyton

    Please see more here.

  • In Illinois, Chinese doesn’t stop just because it’s summer

    District 220 Brings Chinese Culture to 60010 Students

    A successful Chinese Cultural Summer Camp was held in collaboration with the Taipei Economic Cultural Office for over 50 students in the 60010 area.

    Posted on 7/27/2014 7:01:00 PM by Shefali Bhuva

    Barrington 220, together with the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Chicago, hosted a Chinese Folk Arts Summer Camp at Rose Elementary School in South Barrington.

    Open to any student from Kindergarten to 5th grade, the week-long program taught students about the Chinese culture. Through the hands on activities, the students learned about the language and the traditional forms of Chinese folk art.

    Over 50 students enrolled in the camp and while most were from the Barrington Area, one student came over from France to take part!

    On the last day, family and friends were invited to a cultural exhibition program where the students showed off what they had learned all week. Dances included the WeiZu Plate dance and Atayel Tribal Dance.

    The Atayel tribe is based in Taiwan and created ink based tattoos. Other arts featured wereChinese Acrobatics with hula-hoops, flags and balancing plates, Lucky Paper Cutting (with help from some VIP guests) and a tribute to the Chinese New Year with a twin dragon dance.
    The twin dragon dance is not frequently performed due to the complexity of it’s moves, but the young students did a great job! The teaching assistants and parents also got involved at the end and joined in with the dances.

    A very successful summer camp opportunity, educating interested students in the Barrington 220 area.

    Please see more here.

  • Higley, Arizona to get Mandarin immersion program

    Higley Unified

    New at Higley’s Coronado Elementary is a Mandarin immersion program for kindergarten and first grade. Students will spend half their day learning academics in English and half in Mandarin from a native Mandarin speaker, district spokeswoman Michelle Reese said.

    Reese said the program will allow the district to offer Mandarin immersion from kindergarten through high school.

    Please read more here.

  • Group working to start Mandarin immersion program in San Jose, Calif.

    NOTE: THE MEETING IS JULY 27 The group will be holding a community meeting Sunday July 27 at 3pm.
    It will be in Q84 Mary Campbell Room, Campbell Community Center, 1 West Campbell Ave, Campbell CA 95008.
    Their website and Facebook information is weiyucharter@gmail.com and facebook.com/weiyucharter.

    Wei Yu International Charter School

    The Wei Yu International Charter School will provide a challenging and comprehensive learning environment for Kindergarten through eighth grade students, preparing them to be lifelong learners and engaged global citizens. The school mission is to:

    • ●  Provide a bilingual and biliterate education that cultivates students’ emotional intelligence, wonder, and curiosity
    • ●  Promote high academic achievement, civic and moral responsibility, and a sense of accountability so that students are primed to be productive citizens in a dynamic global societyWei Yu International Charter School will be a K-8 public charter Mandarin Chinese immersion school located in West San Jose. We are currently petitioning in the Moreland School District. The school is slated to open in the fall of 2015 with two classes of kindergarten and two classes of first grade.We will utilize a Mandarin Chinese immersion model. Students will be offered a challenging, Common Core-aligned curriculum starting with 80% instruction in Mandarin Chinese and 20% in English. Children will initially receive more instruction in Mandarin Chinese because it will take more effort to learn a foreign language in an English dominant society. Based on the model, subjects taught in Mandarin Chinese will gradually transfer to English in upper grades.

      Wei Yu International will offer a well-rounded, world-class education including programs in the arts, music, and physical education. Wei Yu International’s education program will be based on the most current research and best practices in high performing schools. We will employ technology as a tool for learning, research, and production. Our students will develop skills in critical thinking and problem solving, creativity, communication, and cultural awareness.

      The founding families of Wei Yu International Charter School include professionals in education, technology, finance, business, and law who recognize that the world is an interconnected environment and are passionate about creating an opportunity for our children to be fully prepared as global citizens in the 21st century.

     

  • Louisiana Mandarin program very popular with parents

    Spots still open for Lafayette language immersion programs

    A few kindergartners can still learn French, Spanish

    BY MARSHA SILLS

    July 09, 2014

    “We have one teacher with fourth and fifth grade and one teacher with second and third grade. Until the numbers get bigger, we’ll continue to do that” Nicole Boudreaux, parish school system’s world language specialist on the Mandarin Chinese immersion program

    LAFAYETTE — The parish school system’s popular foreign languageimmersion programs still have a few spots left for kindergartners to begin learning their subjects in French orSpanish, school officials say.

    Nicole Boudreaux, the school system’s world language specialist, said such programs often have waiting lists of varying lengths — shorter at some schools than others.

    Please read more here.

  • NBC News: Asian language immersion schools growing in popularity

  • Getting oh so very close on this book of mine

    UPDATE: Some folks have asked about pre orders on Amazon. I can’t set that up until I’ve created the book on the Amazon site, which won’t happen for another month. But believe me, I’ll get the word out once it’s ready!

    Beth

     

    Here’s the final cover. And I’m handing off the entire manuscript to the designer on Thursday. Hoping to have it available as an Amazon ebook as well as a print-on-demand book in August in time for school to start.

    Screen Shot 2014-06-30 at 4.19.36 PM