Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Lifelong bilinugals may have more efficient brains

    Screen Shot 2013-02-04 at 10.11.01 AM

    From CNN.

    Neuroscientists have been discovering mounting evidence that being fluent in more than one language protects against age-related cognitive declines.  But there’s still the major question: Why?

    Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to get a closer look at the brains of both bilinguals and monolinguals, comparing how their activity differs during specific tasks.  This new study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Neuroscience,  expands upon previous ideas that bilinguals tend to show superior task-switching abilities compared to monolinguals. The study was led by Brian Gold of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

    Methods

    Scientists recruited 110 people who all took a survey about language background, abilities and frequency of usage. “Lifelong bilinguals” were defined as people who are fluent in two languages, specifically those who spoke English and another language every day since age 10 or younger.  There was a variety of languages represented among the bilinguals, which adds to the strength of the experiments, said Judith Kroll, professor of linguistics and psychology at Pennsylvania State University, who was not involved in this study.

    Please read more here.

  • Three-part radio series on immersion in Southern California

    Screen Shot 2013-02-03 at 4.02.26 PMKPCC, the NPR-affiliate in Pasadena, Calif., recently produced a three-part radio series and accompanying web site about immersion schools in Southern California.

    You can find their web site, with lots of photos and interesting graphics, here.

    The links for the radio program are here for part 1, here for part 2 and here for part 3.
    What’s your opinion? Are they right to conclude that immersion programs are of that much interest to immersion families? Is that true in your school?

  • Stars in the Haze: A Short Video Flight Over Beijing

    Especially given the really high levels of air pollution in Beijing recently, this short film about how residents in Beijing are using kites to monitor air quality is fascinating. Called FLOAT, it’s about a project about how scientists are using China’s long history of kite flying as a tool.
    The video is on the new online magazine about China, ChinaFile.

  • Early bird registration ends Feb. 4 for Chinese Education Conference

    Registration info here

    conf

  • Market and Advocate for Your Chinese Language Immersion Program

    From our friends at the Asia Society’s Chinese Language Initiatives

    (mattjeacock/istockphoto)

     

    By Christina Burton Howe

    Your community will be curious and interested in your Chinese language program, but not all stakeholders will understand the need for teaching critical languages and the benefits in using the immersion approach. Community members—teachers, administrators, parents, students, state education professionals, legislators, business members, heritage groups, and funders—will each hold different, and at times conflicting, perspectives. Identifying and understanding these different perspectives is the first step in designing a thoughtful marketing and advocacy plan.

    Anticipating the different reactions to your program will help you build a broad base of support during the initial program planning and opening phases, and to sustain that support through the years ahead. Pre-program implementation and ongoing sustainability demand consistent, proactive ways of getting your message out to the community. It is crucial that your district or school take the lead in initiating this dialogue, in branding and marketing your program to potential students and their parents, and in developing an ongoing public relations strategy that engages the different constituencies.

    Please read more here.

  • VIDEO: Utah’s dual-immersion program

  • Tours starting at Orange Co. Mandarin immersion in Calif.

    ORANGE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

    Orange Unified School District announced that the Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program will continue to be offered at Fletcher Elementary School for the 2013-14 school year. New classes of incoming kindergarten students are being recruited.

    Families interested in visiting the school for an orientation and tour of the Mandarin Immersion classroom may contact the school directly at 714-997-6181 to RSVP. The orientation and tours will begin at 8:15 a.m.; dates available are Jan. 31, Feb. 7, Feb. 21, March 7 or March 21.

    More here.