Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

From the Chinese Language Initiatives Team. Have I mentioned you should subscribe to their newsletter? chinese@asiasociety.org

======

News and Opportunities from the Field

Chinese Guest Teacher and Trainee Program: The College Board is accepting applications to host a guest teacher or teacher-in-training from China for the 2013–14 school year. Teacher Application Priority Deadline is January 30, 2013, and later proposals will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Trainee Application deadline is February 28, 2013. > Learn more.Call for Papers: The National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC), in conjunction with George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education & Human Development and support from the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), will host the 8th International Conference on Language Teacher Education, “Preparing Language Teacher Educators to Meet National and Global Needs,” May 30–June 1, 2013 at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Submission deadline extended to: January 31, 2013> Learn more.Digital Learning Day: The Alliance for Excellent Education is the proud host of Digital Learning Day, a national campaign that celebrates educators and the potential of technology in education. Join more than 17,000 teachers representing more than 3.3 million students and highlight your efforts to promote the effective use of technology in education. When: February 6, 2013 > Learn more.

Concordia Language Villages: Summer Villages combine world language immersion, new cultural experiences, and summer camp fun. Deadline for scholarship applications is February 28, 2013. > Learn more about programs and scholarships.

Connect Internationally with American Councils for International Education: Educational Seminars Program provides short-term professional development opportunities to U.S. teachers and administrators for one-way professional development programs to China. Educational Seminars provide airfare, training, travel healthcare, and living costs. Application deadline: TBD, 2013  > Contact: edseminars@americancouncils.org

Intensive Summer Language Institute (ISLI): This program provides fully funded fellowships for non-native speakers of Chinese who are teaching Chinese to spend six weeks overseas studying intermediate and advanced-level Chinese in Changchun, China. Fellowships are available to current K–12 teachers and community college instructors of Mandarin Chinese, as well as to students enrolled in education programs who intend to teach Mandarin. Program runs June 18–August 3, 2013. Application deadline: February 11, 2013 > Learn more.

Call for Proposals: The Annual Language Symposium 2013, co-sponsored by Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, and DePaul University, welcomes proposals from language instructors at all levels (high school and college/university-level) as well as researchers; all languages are welcome. This year’s symposium topic is “World Languages and the Roles They Play in Academia,” and will be hosted by Northwestern University April 12–13, 2013. Submission deadline: February 14, 2013 > Learn more.

Call for Papers: Jointly with Nanjing University, CLTA-GNY will hold the 11th New York International Conference on Teaching Chinese at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, May 4–5, 2013. The theme of the conference is Global Perspectives in Chinese Language and Culture Instruction. Submission deadline: February 15, 2013 >Learn more.

Middlebury Monterey Language Academy, United States: The Middlebury Monterey Language Academies offer a four-week, immersive, and residential language and cultural learning program at Pomona, Swarthmore, and Green Mountain Colleges. Students who are rising eight to twelfth graders can learn Spanish, French, Chinese, German, or Arabic. Scholarships and financial assistance available. Rolling admissions through May 1. > Learn more.

Middlebury Monterey Language Academy, China: Study Chinese in Beijing with Middlebury Interactive Languages, CET Academic Programs, and the Beijing Institute of Education. Apply to be part of a four-week residential program in China’s capital. Open to rising tenth graders. Rolling admissions through May 1. > Learn more.

CARLA Summer Institutes: Registration is now open for Summer Institutes offered by the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota. The institutes link research and theory with practical applications for the classroom, and each includes discussion, theory-building, hands-on activities, and networking with colleagues. Early registration deadline: May 31, 2013 > Learn more.

2013 Educational Tours to China with the U.S.–China Education Council: Tour packages on offer include the Best of China (10 days), the Yangtze River Cruise (12 days), and Tibet & China’s Best (12 Days). > Learn more.

Chinese Teacher Training Program: Sponsored by Hanban, the Chinese Language Teachers Association of Greater New York is offering its popular teacher training summer program at Nanjing University. Courses include Modern Chinese, Classical Chinese Literature, Chinese Characters and  Calligraphy, and Seminar on Advanced Chinese. Program dates: July 15–August 9, 2013 > Learn more.

We welcome your feedback and encourage you to share information that is of interest to the wider community. Please feel free to contact us at chinese@asiasociety.org and forward this newsletter on to others who are interested in Chinese language and culture programs in the schools.Chinese Language Initiatives Team
Asia Society

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.

KPCC, 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?

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.

Registration info here