Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Getting the high school portion right

    Montgomery County has the oldest public Mandarin immersion program in the United States. Most MI programs seem to be converging on having student take and pass the AP Chinese test in high school, which requires a year or two of high-level Chinese in high school. Not allowing kids who’ve been in immersion for nine years already to continue to the end point is a real problem. It’s the kind of issue that tends to come up with school districts don’t get the K – 12 nature of our programs.

    Beth

    Parents say language-immersion students hurt by transfer policy changes

    Exemptions sought so they can pursue higher-level studies

    By Lindsay A. Powers Staff Writer
     Parents of language-immersion students say they deserve an exemption from proposed changes to the Montgomery County Public Schools’ transfer policy.

    The changes, meant to prevent overcrowding at some high schools, would hinder their children’s ability to continue upper-level language studies from elementary and middle school-level immersion programs, the parents say.

    The school board’s policy committee is set to next discuss comments submitted regarding the changes at its Tuesday meeting.

    One proposed change to the transfer policy would require a student who attended a middle school that is not their neighborhood school to reapply to continue on to a high school in the same cluster.

    A family who wants to transfer their child to another school must prove a significant hardship to be granted a Change of School Assignment (COSA).

    Please read more here.

  • Are Americans finally coming around to the idea of learning languages?

    The Language Shift

    By Anthony Jackson on September 18, 2013 5:39 AM

    Language shifts have happened in societies since the beginning of recorded history. Today, Marty Abbott, head of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), explains a language shift currently taking place in the United States. I am pleased to be part of this movement. I hope you, too, will join.

    by Marty Abbott

    What is it about the United States that we remain the only developed country that routinely graduates students from high school with the knowledge of only one language? We can start with our history of language education. Traditionally, we have “studied” languages—and that implies that we are learning much about those languages but not focusing on how to use them to communicate. Most students have viewed language learning as a requirement, sometimes for graduation from high school, sometimes for admission to college or as a college requirement for a certain major. This leads to an attitude that several years of language study is something that you tick off your list of accomplishments. In addition, with the focus on study and not on communication, we have generations of Americans who feel that their investment in language study did not pay off in significant dividends.

    However, with our changing demographics, our emphasis on global competitiveness, and our increased use of the Internet and social media to stay connected—we are beginning to see a shift in attitude mainly among our young people. This shift involves viewing language learning and cultural understanding as a critical necessity for success in today’s global environment. As young learners interact on a daily basis via the internet, they are increasingly engaging with those who do not necessarily speak English. While historically American citizens had little need to know other languages, the interconnectivity of today’s society guarantees that most U.S. citizens will encounter someone whose native language is not English—for most on a daily basis. And it is this interconnectivity that is forcing the shift in interest in language learning across the United States.

    Please read more here.

  • Mandarin Social Adventurers

    Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 11.14.15 AM

    Here’s a neat idea from some parents in Los Angeles. It’s a social group for parents with kids in Mandarin immersion to go out and do things together. Find them on Facebook here.

  • Full list of Mandarin immersion schools updated

    I just posted a newly updated list of all the Mandarin immersion schools I’ve been able to find here. If you know of one that isn’t on the list, please contact me. I’m going to do some number crunching about the state of Mandarin immersion this week and want to make sure I’ve included all the schools.

    If you do have a school that’s not listed, please include the following? Many thanks!

     

    Name of school

    year it began offering Mandarin immersion (kindergarten and beyond only, not preschool.)

    Are simplified or traditional characters taught?

    Is the entire school devoted to Mandarin immersion or is the program a strand within a larger school?

    Is the program one-way or two-way? One way means all students must already speak English when they begin. Two-way means that the program is meant to teach Chinese-speaking children English and English-speaking children Mandarin.

    Is your program part of the Utah consortium (if you know.)

    Is your program an IB school?

  • The Five Top Immersion Teaching Skills: from the Asia Society

    Instructional Strategies: Successful Approaches to Immersion Teaching

    (pengpeng/istockphoto)
    by Chris Livaccari

    Language immersion programs present a range of opportunities and challenges for practitioners. Many language teachers welcome the opportunity to create an immersive language environment in which their students are able to achieve high levels of proficiency and fluency in the target language, and to learn academic as well as everyday language. However, because immersion teachers are not just teaching language but also teaching other academic subjects, they have several extra issues to consider. In any immersion program, language and its partner subjects are equally important, and the most successful approaches balance them evenly.

    In this way, successful immersion teaching is the pinnacle of good instruction. Its form of interdisciplinary learning exemplifies the possibilities of education in general. Immersion teachers start from the assumption that barriers between various subject areas are at some level artificial, and that engaging, dynamic, and effective instruction in all subject areas contains many of the same core elements. By their very nature, immersion programs demonstrate the interconnectedness of all knowledge and experience.

    Please read more here.

  • Proposed Newton, Mass. Mandarin immersion school hits roadblock

    Proposed charter schools in Lynn, Andover invited to submit applications, but Newton and Westborough are not

    Posted by Your Town  September 27, 2013 10:22 PM

    By State House News Service

    Seven charter school applicants have been invited to submit full applications, meaning the conversation around an educational alternative will advance in Fitchburg, Lynn and Springfield.

    They are among 10 schools who submitted initial proposals to the state this summer.

    Three charter schools were not invited to submit full applications by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The proposed schools that failed to move ahead are Central Massachusetts Science Technology Art and Mathematics Via Language Immersion Public Charter School in Westborough, Chinese Immersion Charter School of Newton, and Sea Star Charter School of Cape Cod.

    Please read more here.

  • Mass. school get grant to expand

    WANG.JPG
    Cameraman Siguru Itoshimizu, right, films at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley in October 2012, while NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp. producer Koji Hayasaki, left, listens to Principal Kathleen Wang, off camera. The school has received a $10.6 million USDA loan to build an addition in Hadley. (Republican file photo)

    Diane Lederman, The RepublicanBy Diane Lederman, The Republican 
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    on September 30, 2013 at 2:49 PM, updated September 30, 2013 at 3:11 PM

    HADLEY – The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School has secured a $10.6 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development program tobuild a four-story addition that will double the size of the existing building.

    The 38,400-square-foot addition will include 15 classrooms. The estimated cost is $12 million.

    Please read more here.