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/

Arizona Attorney General strikes down Superintendent Horne’s dual language ban – The Center Square

https://www.azmirror.com/blog/ag-mayes-says-horne-cant-defund-dual-language-education-programs/

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.

The United States is not the only place that bans on Confucius Institutes, which often helped support Chinese teachers for immersion programs here, are going into effect.

The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has backtracked on a pledge to close down 30 Chinese state-sponsored Confucius Institutes across the country. 

During his unsuccessful bid last year to become leader of the Conservative party  a move before his promotion to Prime Minister, Sunak had promised to ban operations at the cultural schools, which stand accused of spreading propaganda and spying on students, amid ongoing political tensions with China. 

However last week, the UK government announced that it would be “disproportionate” to close the institutes, but a senior Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Iain Duncan Smith called the u-turn decision “ridiculous.” 

Please read more here.

Many Chinese students will be familiar with Minnesota’s Concordia Language Villages summer immersion program. The Maplelag Resort in Callaway, Minn. was home to 森林湖・Sēn Lín Hú, Concordia’s home for the past 10 summers.

By Reid Forgrave, Minneapolis Star Tribune JUNE 12, 2023

Students study Chinese at Sēn Lín Hú, Concordia Language Villages’ Chinese village, at its longtime location at Maplelag Resort north of Detroit Lakes.

This week begins a beloved Minnesota summer tradition, where 3,000 kids from 50 states immerse themselves in learning at the Concordia Language Villages.

Most of the learning occurs at the main campus near Bemidji, though a few other locations are scattered at resorts up north throughout summer. But one of the villages now has an uncertain future: the Chinese Language Village is temporarily relocating to Concordia College in Moorhead after a fire destroyed its home at Maplelag Resort, north of Detroit Lakes.

Please read more here.

By Cory Smith | on March 22, 2023

GREENVILLE — In the wake of a large showing of community support after facing a decision to be phased out, it appears the Chinese Immersion program at Greenville Public Schools is now here to stay. 

On Tuesday, Greenville Public Schools Superintendent Wayne Roedel emailed families of the school district’s Chinese Immersion students an update following a meeting with a task force team of teachers and administrators at Walnut Hills Elementary School last week. 

Please read more here.