The Verona Press, Oct. 19, 2023

Verona Area High School (VAHS) 2023 graduate Alex Prout has been studying Chinese for 12 years, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

In kindergarten, Prout began learning at the Verona Area International School (VAIS) in the very first Two-Way Immersion Mandarin class. Through fifth grade, he spent half the day learning in Chinese and the other in English. 

As a kindergartner, Prout was too young to fully understand the impact the language would have on him. Yet, that all changed when Prout entered middle school. 

“I really started to appreciate the language,” he said.

Please read more here.

Oil City News, Oct. 4, 2023

CASPER, Wyo. — Families from Casper’s Mandarin Dual Language Immersion program came together at Paradise Valley Park last Friday to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, a widely celebrated occasion in many Asian countries.

The Chinese government listed the festival as an intangible cultural heritage in 2006. It was made a public holiday in 2008, according to China Daily.

The event, held on Sept. 29, witnessed an impressive turnout of over 100 attendees, ranging from kindergarteners to 10th graders. The families indulged in a mix of traditional Chinese and Wyoming treats, including steamed buns, Cha Ye Dan (tea eggs) and Wyoming tanghulu, according to event attendee Mei Chu Yang.

Please read more here.

The School District’s Mandarin immersion program is proving a help as the new students are integrated into the school system and life in America. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility is expected to bring more than 1,600 new, high-tech jobs to the state. Some of the staff are coming from Taiwan though most will be hired in Arizona.

From ABC15

Valley school district helping to get Taiwan families integrated into life in the US

Deer Valley Unified School District sees influx of Taiwanese students from TSMC plant

Elenee Dao Sep 05, 2023 

PHOENIX — As the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company continues construction in north Phoenix, more families from Taiwan are moving to Arizona. The Deer Valley Unified School District saw about 400 students come into their school system in the last year and a half.

Stetson Hills School saw the most students from Taiwan, with about 100 in the last year, and it’s been an adjustment for both the schools and Taiwanese students.

Please read more here.

KSHB Kansas City Aug. 16, 2023

Parents worry about future of Blue Valley Schools Chinese Immersion Program

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wednesday marked the first day of school for kids in Blue Valley Schools.

It also marked the first time not everyone could enroll in one of the district’s unique programs.

The district said it is evaluating the Chinese Immersion program which has been available for the last five years.

It allows students to spend half their day learning in English and the other half of the school day learning the same subjects in Chinese.

Parents were not able to enroll kindergartners in the program for the first time this year.

Please read more here.

Here’s the District’s page about the current program. There are currently two Mandarin immersion grade schools in Kansas City:

Wolf Springs Elementary

Blue Valley Schools’ inaugural language immersion program began in the 2017-18 school year at Wolf Springs Elementary. Up to one-half of immersion students at Wolf Springs come from the Blue Valley Southwest attendance area. Students must be enrolled in in-person learning to apply. 

Valley Park Elementary

Valley Park Elementary is the district’s second Chinese Immersion program site. The first class started in the 2018-19 school year. Students must reside in the VPE attendance boundary to be considered for the VPE program. Siblings of current immersion students will have preference regardless of home school. Students must be enrolled in in-person learning to apply.

I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s the kind of movie that both appeals to teens and also shows that Chinese is a real language, spoken by real people. A plus is that immersion students probably speak Mandarin better than some of the characters, so they can feel like “Well, I could do that.”

‘Love in Taipei’ is a letter to all Asian Americans finding belonging in Asia

AsAm News

Cultural and language immersion programs are quite common in Asia as an opportunity for Western Asians to learn a language and to adapt and appreciate a culture that forms part of their identity. This is the focal point in the film Love in Taipei, a love letter to all Westerners with Taiwanese heritage seeing Taiwan for the first time and risking it all to adapt and live that life, in a bid to find a sense of belonging.

For Taiwanese American director Arvin Chen, who now works as a filmmaker in Taiwan, this idea of cultural immersion is something he is able to identify with. Having little Mandarin when he first arrived in Taiwan over a decade ago, Chen had his struggles fitting in and finding his place in Taiwan’s bourgeoning entertainment industry.

Please read more here.

Arizona has 110 dual-language immersion programs.

Dual language programs for English learners are being challenged. What parents should know

Daniel Gonzalez

Arizona Republic, July 20, 2023

In June, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne tried to bar students classified as English learners from enrolling in dual language programs. He sent a letter to schools threatening to withhold education funding from schools that allow English learners to participate in the programs without parental waivers.

With some schools in Arizona starting this week, here is what parents need to know about dual language programs.

Please read more here.

More stories on this topic below:

https://www-tucsonsentinel-com.webpkgcache.com/doc/-/s/www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/071423_dual_language_protest/protesters-gather-arizona-capitol-challenge-tom-hornes-anti-dual-language-rhetoric/

https://www.themesatribune.com/news/horne-threatens-mps-dual-language-program/article_aa7ce2be-1799-11ee-a143-9bd983712090.html

https://www.azfamily.com/2023/06/27/arizona-superintendent-parents-face-off-over-duel-language-programs-schools/

By H.M. Cauley, June 3, 2023

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Je Yeong Yu, 52, still has vivid memories of moving to the U.S. with her Korean parents and being tossed into a first-grade classroom of where everyone, except she, spoke English.

“There were no ESL programs then,” said Yu, referring to English as a Second Language classes. “I want there to be a smoother transition for students to learn their heritage language as well as English.”

Yu is working to that goal as principal of the Yi Hwang Academy of Language Excellence in Duluth. The veteran educator learned about the school through a friend who was part of the parent group that launched the academy in a church basement with 120 students in September 2020. In January 2021, Yu took the helm.

But the focus isn’t just on teaching English; it’s also dedicated to strengthening the families’ native tongues.

“We’re the only school I’ve come across with a large population of heritage speakers – students whose parents and grandparents came from Korea or China, and they speak Korean or Mandarin at home,” said Yu. “But parents have said they have pretty much lost their language because they were educated here in the States. They barely communicate with their parents. What are their children going to do?”

Please read more here.