Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Gilbert, Arizona adds Mandarin immersion program

    Coronado School is opening a free Chinese Mandarin Program for kindergarten and first grade students beginning Fall 2014.
    Screen Shot 2014-06-04 at 9.17.56 AM
    They district did a very nice video introducing the program to families, which is a brilliant way to cheaply and easily get the information out to a broad range of families. Check it out here.
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    From the Gilbert district website:
    What are the proven benefits of acquiring second language skills?
    • High proficiency in the immersion language
    • Performance on English standardized tests meets or exceeds non-immersion students
    • Promotes greater cognitive flexibility, increased attention control, better memory, and superior problem solving skills
    • Enhanced understanding of primary language
    • Increased cultural sensitivity
    • Better prepared for the future in a global society
    Informational meetings
    June 4 | 6 p.m. | Coronado School, 4333 S. De Anza Blvd.
    June 24 | 6 p.m. | Coronado School, 4333 S. De Anza Blvd.
    July 16 | 6 p.m. | Coronado School, 4333 S. De Anza Blvd.
     
    For more information:Ting Sun 孙婷
    ting.sun@husd.org
    (480) 279.6900
    Assistant, Mandarin Immersion Program 中文沉浸式教学

  • Steal like an artist…

    To paraphrase a book I read recently.

    The wonderful parents at Broadway Elementary School in Los Angeles have made a stellar brochure about their Mandarin immersion program.

    Seeing as programs nationwide don’t compete, I’d like to suggest that anyone who wants to might use it as a template for a brochure at your school.  (Hope that’s okay with the Broadway folks, you folks rock!)

    There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, especially when LA’ clearly got this whole car things down.

    Click to access 168613167123399727.pdf

    Broadway brochure

    Broadway brochure

  • Delaware’s Governor lauds state immersion programs

    Gov. Markell applauds growth of language immersion program in weekly message

    Gov. Markell applauds growth of language immersion program in weekly message

    By WDDE 91.1 FM
    May 31, 2014

    Video

    Gov. Markell applauds growth of language immersion program in weekly message

    Governor Jack Markell’s Weekly Message

    In this week’s message, Gov. Jack Markell (D-Delaware) is touting the success of educating Delaware children in different languages for part of the school day.

    Established two years ago, the world language immersion program launched with Spanish and Chinese options beginning as early as kindergarten.

    Markell says the results have been phenomenal.

    “More than 800 of our youngest students can talk about their school day in more than one language. By next year, more than 1,500 will be able to do so and nearly all of the students’ parents have agreed that our seven Spanish and three Chinese programs enrich their child’s education.”

    He notes that with a more global economy, speaking two languages offers a distinct advantage for those who are able to.

    Earlier this week, Markell renewed a partnership with the Spanish government that sends teachers to staff those programs and offers Delaware educators a chance to teach in Europe.

    Please read more here.

  • Avenues: The World School in NYC to launch English immersion program

    Note the tidbit below in The China Daily. There’s a market for English immersion in the U.S. among Chinese families. A Mandarin immersion school could have some interesting synergies with such a program, as the folks at Avenues clearly see. They’re also opening a school in China in the next year or so.

    Beth

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    http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-05/26/content_17540521.htm

    “Avenues, a New York-based private school that opened in 2012, has a two-week intensive summer program for language learning. The school offers Mandarin or Spanish immersion programs and doesn’t yet have a program for international students looking to study English. But due to demand, Avenues plans on creating an English immersion program for the New York campus, catering mostly to Chinese students, according to Chris Whittle, chairman of Avenues. The English-language immersion program will most likely open in the next year and a half, Whittle said.

    “Are Chinese parents interested in English immersion programs? Beyond a doubt,” he said. “And they are interested both in China and in sending their students to special programs in the United States as well.”

  • Spanish at home, Mandarin at school

    This article is from a great blog called InCulture Parent, which I highly recommend bookmarking.

    How This Single Working Mom Raised a Trilingual Kid

    By 

    maria and her daughter (c) incultureparent

    Maria came to San Francisco from Zacatecas, Mexico as a teenager. She crossed the border illegally with the husband she married in her hometown. Because of Maria’s mother’s influence, she married too young, at the age of 16, and since then has had a hard life full of responsibilities.  She is now a U.S. citizen who eventually divorced and currently lives with her three children, younger daughter Karina and two older sons in the Mission district of San Francisco. For the past 15 years she has been a single mother.

    Despite working full-time and being a single mom, she has made an extra effort not only to maintain the language and culture of her native Mexico for her kids, but also to expose her daughter to a third language. “Karina started kinder in the Spanish bilingual strand of her school, but was intrigued about the other two classes where kids, who were not necessarily Chinese, were learning Mandarin. She got curious and wanted me to switch her to the Chinese class for first grade. It was her idea to do Chinese.” Maria fully supported her daughter’s interest. Maria has also inculcated in her children her love of dance.

    Please read more here.

  • Phoenix, Arizona getting a Mandarin immersion public school

    The Phoenix, Arizona school District is launching a 50.50 Mandarin immersion program in the Whispering Wind Academy. The school’s site says its  mission “is to cultivate, lead, and inspire ALL students to become innovative thinkers and life-long learners through a challenging, meaningful, and engaging curriculum emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Global Geography. ”

    The school’s name in Chinese is 鹰 风 小学, which means Eagle Spirit Primary School. Though they should have called it 凤凰风 小学 and then it could have been Phoenix Spirit Primary School!

    You can read more about the school here. It will open in the fall, for kindergarten and first grade. It’s a 50/50 program using Simplified characters.

    Interestingly, the school is officially charter but calls itself a “district-sponsored charter school.” This is something public school districts in Arizona do to get more funding per pupil, while remaining what’s effecitvely a regular public school. You can read more about how that works here.

  • Lafayette, Louisiana Mandarin immersion program moves to new school

    Advocate file photo by BRYAN TUCK. -- A sign in front of Myrtle Place Elementary in Lafayette announces it as a French Language Immersion School. French immersion classes previously at S.J. Montgomery Elementary will move to Myrtle Place in the upcoming school year.Show caption

    BY MARSHA SILLS

    May 10, 2014

    The Lafayette Parish School System announced Friday that some foreign immersion programs at Alice Boucher and S.J. Montgomery Elementary schools will move to other schools in the coming school year.

    Chinese immersion classes offered at Boucher will move to Plantation Elementary and French immersion offered at S.J. Montgomery will move to Myrtle Place Elementary, which is an existing French immersion school, school officials said Friday.

    The immersion options are offered as part of the district’s schools of choice programs which offer students the opportunity to choose a specialized study area. Options range from foreign language immersion to business and finance and environmental sciences. French immersion is the district’s largest schools of choice option and classes are offered at several schools across the parish. Boucher was the only site of the Chinese immersion option.

    Please read more here.