Korean Dual Language Immersion Program

The nice folks at 5Q Channel in Taiwan have once again agreed to give U.S. parents a special rate on their great website.

5Q Channel is a Chinese listening and reading site that features animated stories in Mandarin with both pinyin, traditional and simplified characters.

The stories are fun, the animation is good and because they’re read aloud even younger-grade children can easily follow along.

They also have iPad apps (great for long car rides)

You can sign up for a year’s worth of the site for $35 (via Paypal) here:

http://www.5qchannel.com/order/grouprate2011.htm

From their website:

Lu Feng Technology is committed to creating excellent Chinese digital educational products for the growing Chinese language market. We specialize in using computer animation to transform classic Chinese literary works into captivating multimedia for the modern audience. Our team of designers and animators specializes in designing multimedia content in Chinese. Our products are educational in nature, and our aim is to help all readers around the world to read classic tales easily

The 5QChannel Reading Website is an animation website that provides abundant animated classic stories. According to parents and teachers, there is a large need for suitable classics for children to read; we understand the difficulties children have in reading these classics in their original form. By reinterpreting well-known classic stories and creating a new way of learning and studying with multi-media devices, we provide a means for people to watch animation anywhere and anytime. We create digital reading with animations and thus the concept “Watch Animations and Get to Know the Classics” is realized.

To meet the global trend in learning Chinese, we will continue to produce animated versions of classic Chinese literature for the enjoyment of the growing global Chinese readership. We also provide abundant teaching materials and resources for teachers to use in class. The series of 5QChannel Curriculums are not only animations, but also includes a variety of teaching materials. We use vivid animations to inspire students to develop an interest and, at the same time, assist in teaching. By using these materials students can practice the ability of listening, reading and writing, and teachers can also use them to make their own lessons. In the future, we will continue with product development for Chinese learning and to create interesting digital contents with multimedia technology.

Developing Literacy in Chinese, Part 2:

Supporting Chinese Literacy in the Home Environment

By Lelan Miller 孟乐岚, founder of Mandarin Matters in Our Schools in Texas (MMOST) and master’s candidate in Chinese Language Pedagogy

This article is the second in a three part series about developing literacy in the Chinese language. While written primarily for non-Chinese parents with children in primary through high school who are in various stages of developing Chinese literacy, this article may benefit administrators, teachers, and other professionals engaged in Chinese language learning in immersion settings.

Literacy begins in the home. This is true of any language. The target language of the immersion school may take root in the school environment but needs further nurturing in the home. This can and should be done even if the parents are not fluent in the target language. Immersion school teachers and staff have an important role in introducing and reinforcing literacy in Chinese. The role of the home is to provide an environment conductive to literacy in both the home and target language. The home (and immersion school as well) should have a reading area that is both accessible, attractive, and arranged in a way that invites emergent and advanced learners of the immersion program’s target language.

The reading area should take into consideration the various reading styles of each individual. Some like to read lying on a couch, nestling in a bean bag chair, or sitting at a table. The materials can and should reinforce reading and writing. Those materials can include but are not limited to books, magazines, newspapers, magic doodle slates, paper, blackboards, erasable boards,  writing supplies,  envelopes, crayons, journals, and even post it notes. The materials should be attractively arranged to encourage readers and writers to frequently visit. Pushing everything into a jumbled pile will frustrate and discourage visitors from using materials.

Even if the parents have little or no literacy in Chinese, children of all ages needs to see parents and family members engage in literacy in any language because the home environment should emphasize that reading and writing are important activities in any language. It is very important to children and teens to see others use reading for a variety of purposes outside of schoolwork, from entertainment to maintaining a job or career.

Oral language and music can form strong foundations for reading and writing. Parents, grandparents, and family members can and should orally share stories, read aloud printed stories and letters, and share family histories as well as expose children to oral and auditory experiences such as rhymes and familiar children’s songs. Audio and visual recordings related to beginning reading and writing also have their place in the home. Audio recordings of rhymes and children’s stories in Chinese are available as DVDs and more recently, on the Internet. Two examples are given below to show how to effectively select and use audio recordings to reinforce literacy in Chinese.

Example One. This is a recording of “Go to Bed Soon” 《快点睡觉吧》 from the Chinese with Meggie program in Austin, Texas. The oral and auditory features of this story are well-chosen to enhance literacy in Chinese. Repetition of measure words, numbers, and key verbs and phrases assist in the internalization of the oral language and eventually the written language as well. Note how the narrator slows down and quickens the oral presentation at key points in order to effectively heighten emotions and expectations. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PMk4tdG9bA

Example Two. This is a recording of Our Family’s Long Bench 《我們家的長板凳》   which was mentioned in the blog of the Doss Elementary Chinese Immersion Program of Austin, Texas. This story and recording demonstrates outstanding use of onomatopoeia and abundant auditory cues that connect the listener to the content of the printed story. For example, when the bench is being used as a study desk, the cat’s meowing matches the characters representing a cat’s meow, and at the same time the boy is reciting and studying a famous Tang poem which is embedded in the text.

http://children.moc.gov.tw/garden/animation.php?id=200704A01

Please read more here.

http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=13730

“Monolingualism is the illiteracy of the 21st century!”

This is my new favorite quote. It’s from Gregg Roberts, World Languages and Dual Immersion Specialist, Utah State Office of Education. He was speaking at this year’s Asia Society Chinese Language Conference in Boston in April. The panel was on “Equity and Access in Chinese Language Education.” You can listen to it here, as well as all the other plenary sessions that were filmed.

I think Gregg’s quote belongs on the back of every single t-shirt that immersion programs create.

[Here’s a little Photoshop magic created by an Oregon immersion parent….}