Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School

On a rainy winter evening, the end of a bustling school day, some parents gathered at Kim Harrington’s cozy cottage in West University Place. They were members of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School (MCLIMS).

Although the dual language school is only in its second year of operation, it has already garnered a respectable reputation for its strong PTO. And Harrington was coordinating the school’s Chinese New Year Festival. “Here’s an example of how involved the parentsare: we have 333 students, and 230 parents signed up to volunteer for the festival,” she says. “The parents contribute a lot. The teachers get help everyday with setting up materials for the classroom, so the teachers can devote more time to the students.”

Please read more here.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Here’s one family’s story.

Our friends at Parents of African Americans Students Studying Chinese (PAASSC) have these great posters for sale. Check their newsletter out here. Here’s their website. They go on sale Feb. 24.

Please read more here.

The school’s site on the program is here.

A wonderful video of kids who speak lots of languages proudly telling the world they speak English and another language–and they’re American!

It was made after a flap over the multilingual Coke ad that aired during the SuperBowl, which featured kids singing America the Beautiful in multiple languages.

This video was made by Stephanie Meade, the mom who runs InCulture Parent. It’s a wonderful site for families raising bilingual kids. [Hint: you should all be reading it.]

It’s popping up in Mandarin blogs as well as one of the kids speaks Mandarin. You can read her take on it here.

Enjoy.

CHINESE IMMERSION IN NASELLE

Mandarin makes its mark

• Chinese Immersion

• 

  Damian Mulinix

  Naselle School kindergarteners go over Mandarin characters on a worksheet as part of a Chinese immersion class.

Damian Mulinix

First-graders names are spelled out in Mandarin above their backpacks in a Chinese immersion class at Naselle School.

Posted: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 6:00 pm

By KATIE WILSON

kwilson@chinookobserver.com

NASELLE — It’s nearly recess and the students in Qian Xiao’s kindergarten class are restless. They start to ask her questions — in English. But Xiao, who goes by the name “Tina,” responds in Mandarin. Her students listen intently. One girl twists in her seat and a boy, at Xiao’s prompting, looks out the window to see if there is any snow on the ground.

In Mandarin, he tells her there isn’t any.

It’s been one year since the Naselle School, grades K-8, introduced a Mandarin immersion program for kindergarten and first grade. With 37 students enrolled in the immersion program and the majority of students performing well on state tests, Principal Karen Wirkkala hopes the program will continue.

The school has reapplied for the grants that currently fund the classes and provide the native Chinese-speaking teachers, and school officials should know next month whether or not the grant applications were successful.

Please read more here.

Trustees with the Natrona County School District have unanimously approved a recommendation establishing a second dual language immersion program at a Casper elementary school.

Trustees approved the new Spanish immersion program at Park Elementary School during Monday night’s regular meeting. Trustees also approved an expanded 20-1 class size radio for the program.

Mark Mathern, the district’s associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, says the approved recommendation will open up 20 immersion seats at Park next year. He also says Spanish immersion interest has been high since trustees established a pilot Mandarin program at Paradise Valley Elementary School last year.

Read More: Spanish Immersion Program Approved for Park Elementary | http://k2radio.com/spanish-immersion-program-approved-for-park-elementary/?trackback=tsmclip