Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education
From today’s San Francisco Chronicle, an interview with the husband of the US ambassador to Hungary. In it, Markos Kounalakis, says this about their two boys’ schooling:
Q: What school do the boys go to? A: During the week, they are at the American International School of Budapest, and on the weekends, full time, they go to a Chinese-language immersion school.
Read the full interview here.
| From EdSource:Over 10,000 students awarded “seal of biliteracy”
For the first time, graduating seniors from around California – more than 10,000 – have been awarded a state “seal” indicating their proficiency in two languages.
The award, which consists of a gold seal affixed to a student’s high school diploma, is the result of legislation (AB 815) authored by Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last year. Some 59 districts around the state were already awarding their own seal of biliteracy, but this is the first time that it has been done statewide. Not surprisingly, the vast majority – 70 percent – of those earning the seal demonstrated proficiency in Spanish, followed by French (10 percent) and Mandarin (7 percent). Some 2 percent of students were proficient in Japanese, with a similar percentage in Cantonese and German. Altogether, students with proficiency in 40 different languages, including American sign language, were awarded the seal. The California Department of Education could not provide a breakdown as to what proportion of those receiving the seal were native English speakers. Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, executive director of Californians Together, which advocated on behalf of the seal for many years, earlier told EdSource that the seal was not intended to be a rebuff to Proposition 227, the 1998 initiative effectively banning bilingual education in California. Rather, she said, it is a way to “take a fresh look at the benefits of students being equipped in multiple languages.” |
By Elizabeth Weise
We know two things about reading in all languages: the more you do, the easier it gets and the more your read, the better your vocabulary, grammar, writing and understanding become.
Dr. Stephen Krashen has done years of research on this, which has been backed up by multiple other researchers (If you want to do some of your own reading on this, try The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research and Summer Reading: Program and Evidence, both by Krashen.
The research clearly shows that that reading for fun (academics call it “Free Voluntary Reading”) really ramps up language development and literacy. But it’s got to be compelling and comprehensible — i.e. fun and at the right level.
Krashen’s research has also shown that one way to get non-readers interested in reading is comic books, because they’ve got great story lines and also pictures that help draw kids in.
Dr. Christy Lao, a professor of education at San Francisco State University put those two pieces of information together and created a phenomenal summer program to get kids reading in Chinese. The children were either in Chinese immersion programs or from Heritage language schools. Lao had a STARTALK grant from the federal government that allowed her to work with a group of students in San Francisco for several years running. These kids spent much of their summer in a big, friendly room at SF State that is lined with bookcases filled with Chinese language comics, which also go by the name graphic novels or manga.
They loved them.
“Some of these students were reading ten books a week,” Lao says. “We had one boy who read 644 books over the summer and wanted to take more home in his suitcase.” The group of students who took the month-long summer workshop read Chinese graphic novels, lots of them. The numbers ranged from 96 to the boy above, at 644. In one month.
Kids who had never before read a full book in Chinese were devouring the graphic novels/comic books. One mother called Lao to complain: “You said this was just a summer program, but you’re making my child read five hours a night!” Lao had to explain to the mom that there was no homework – her daughter just wanted to read that much.
“What is more encouraging is that when the students finished the summer program, they continued reading Chinese for pleasure,” she says. In the months after the program ended, kids read between 19 and 272 books, in Mandarin, just because they wanted to.
Lao says they had a whole shelf of picture books but the kids ignored them. But the comic books they couldn’t keep them away from.
Sadly, Lao has moved on to other projects and isn’t running the STARTALK reading program any more, but after interviewing her this week for my Mandarin Immersion: A Parents Guide, I started thinking about how parents could replicate it for themselves.
A call for assistance on the various Mandarin lists resulted in amazingly helpful suggestions – what a great group of parents we have engaged in Mandarin around the country!
So here’s are some suggestions:
So how to find graphic novels and comic books? Here are some suggestions from parents across the United States. Some of these sites are only in Chinese, but ask your child to help you buy – it will give them a chance to show off their knowledge.
Parent suggestions about what’s available and where to buy:
TinTin/丁丁
The TinTin books have been translated into both simplified and traditional. If your kid got hooked on TinTin from the movie, this is a great place to start. You could even have them read a book in English and then take it away and give them only the Chinese version, so they have to read it.
羊羊与灰太狼Xi Yang Yang (Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf).
Popular with younger kids) in simplified characters.
闹FUN天闹闹漫画系列1 Nao Nao series,
This one apparently won awards from the Singapore Dept. of Education
Available at
http://chinasprout.com/shop/BSY061
China sprout is having free shipping above $50 till June 30.
We bought all the graphic novels that Chinese Books for Children carries. They’re located in the Bay Area, so the books came much quicker than the Garfield and Tintin sets I ordered from China. The slow shipping from China cost more than the books, so I don’t recommend doing that.
Nan Hai books in Santa Clara carries My First Scientific Comic Book Series that our 4th graders liked.
Little Monkey and Mouse
Bookstore, online and local in Bay Area, carries many popular comics books in Simplified Chinese such as Smurf, Gadget Cat, Pleasant Goat & Big Big Wolf etc… She I just received a new shipment and will be updating her website soon.
http://www.littlemonkeyandmouse.com/index.php/children/comics.html?dir=asc&language=10&order=name
iPad
There are hundreds of comics on you can get onto your iPad. I just did a search using the Chinese characters for comic strip (漫画man hua), and got lots of hits.
I was super excited to see that someone had scanned the entire series of小叮当Xiao Ding Dang (or Doraemon, the blue robotic cat from the future) and made them available on the iPad. Do a search for robotic cat using机器猫 (ji qi mao) and you should see it. This has been my favorite since I was a kid, and remains one of the most popular comic strips in Asia.
I had also gotten some 羊羊与灰太狼 Xi Yang Yang comic strips with high-quality graphics for the iPad. My kids really enjoyed reading them (I mean, having me read to them). The benefit of Xi Yang Yang is that they are more likely to be in simplified characters, since this started from mainland China.
I also have some comic strips of西游记 Xi You Ji (Journey to the West – about the Monkey King), also downloaded to the iPad.
Books and Me down in Los Altos has a bunch too… but you should call them and ask first, especially if you’re looking for ones in simplified characters. They tend to carry more books from Taiwan. Their website is http://www.booksandme.org/
You might find this list of comics helpful, they seem to all be in simplified.
http://category.dangdang.com/all/?category_path=01.41.50.05.00.00
This site requires registration. The hardest part is getting the first purchase done – there’s a credit card verification process that involves an error message that shows up despite successful transaction, and the company will also do another verification through email. Also, shipping takes about a month. Sounds daunting but it’s all worth it because it’s the most affordable option I’ve found so far.
www.yesasia.com/us/en/chinese-comics.html
Soyodo
Bookstore based in California with a web site, a search for comics got this:
http://www.soyodo.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=124_138_141&sort=2d&page=1
San Francisco Bay area:
The San Francisco Public Library, main branch and Chinatown branch, both have comics. Most are in traditional characters, although they also have Xi Yang Yang (Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf, popular with younger kids) in simplified.
Gogo Music & Books, 675 Jackson, near Grant, in Chinatown, carries comic books.
The Millbrae library seems to have comics and graphic novels in Chinese.
Sodo, a bookstore at 273 Broadway Ave.,Millbrae, California, has the comic books in simplified Chinese characters. They also have a branch in Sunnyvale.
Books and Me down in Los Altos call them and ask first, especially if you’re looking for ones in simplified characters. They tend to carry more books from Taiwan. Their website is http://www.booksandme.org/
The Quickly store in Millbrae (where you get pearl tea). I know there are Quickly stores everywhere in the Bay area now, but I’m not sure all of them carry these comic strips.
Asia Society’s Confucius Classrooms is a national network of 100 exemplary Chinese language programs. The Network serves as model sites for developing the field of Chinese language teaching in American schools.
About the Network
Asia Society named, through a competitive process, 100 schools and districts with exemplary Chinese language programs. These schools not only have effective Chinese language instruction, but also strong local leadership and support, a demonstrated commitment to international exchange and collaboration. As Confucius Classrooms, they act as resource centers for other schools in the region.
Each Confucius Classroom is linked with a partner school in China to enhance opportunities for language learning and to provide students, teachers, and administrators with opportunities to conduct exchanges and joint projects. Asia Society designed the selection process for the 100 U.S. schools, assisted them in creating linkages with schools in China, convenes an annual meeting in conjunction with the National Chinese Language Conference, and provides ongoing support through e-newsletters and professional development seminars, as well as collect data to assess progress.
Please read more here.
Some American families are packing up and moving to China or other parts of Asia to give their kids an immersive experience and a leg up in Mandarin. WSJ’s Andy Jordan reports on two families who thought Mandarin lessons in America just weren’t enough.
Michael Roemer had never lived abroad before he took a one-year leave of absence from his job as an attorney, rented out his family’s Orinda, Calif., house, and moved to Chengdu, a city in western China, in 2010 with his wife and two children.
Mr. Roemer’s goal: to give his kids, Erin and Conor, an up-close look at China and an edge in what is fast becoming a must-learn language. “Speaking Mandarin is important,” says the 57-year-old Mr. Roemer.
The Roemers are among a growing group of Westerners going to great lengths to give their kids a leg up in Mandarin. With China’s rising global influence, these parents want their children to be able to communicate fluently with the country’s 1.3 billion people. The phenomenon is similar to what happened in the ’80s, when Japan’s economy boomed and there was a rush to learn Japanese.
Some high-powered parents want their children to learn Mandarin, going so far as to packing up the family and moving to China. Emily Nelson has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Joanne Lee-Young.
But this time, after-school classes aren’t enough for some people. Families are enrolling their children in Mandarin-immersion programs that are springing up from California to Maine. They are hiring tutors, Skyping with teachers in Beijing and recruiting Chinese-speaking nannies. Some are stocking their playrooms with Disney videos in Mandarin—not to mention the iPhone apps aimed at making kids into Mandarin speakers.
Please read more here.
A “Languages for Jobs” Initiative
Policy Innovation Memorandum No. 24
Authors: Terrence G. Wiley, President, Center for Applied Linguistics, Sarah Catherine Moore, Language Policy Research Network, Center for Applied Linguistics, and Margaret S. Fee, Language Policy Research Network, Center for Applied Linguistics
Publisher
Council on Foreign Relations Press
Release Date
June 2012
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The promotion of foreign language instruction should be a national priority. In an increasingly competitive international economy, a workforce with more market-relevant foreign language skills is a strategic economic asset for the United States. Yet foreign language education is on the decline, particularly at the primary level when foreign languages are best learned. Federal policy is not stepping up. Recent federal efforts to promote foreign language instruction are not designed to have a broad-based impact and have been focused almost exclusively on achieving national security goals. U.S. economic competitiveness goals are equally important, but there are no comprehensive efforts to promote the instruction of languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, German, and Hindi, in local school districts where foreign language education must occur to improve proficiency more broadly. The federal government should launch an interagency “Languages for Jobs” initiative, with funding levels at least equal to security language programs. As part of the initiative, the Department of Education would develop foreign language education accountability metrics and primary-level immersion programming that leverages the country’s existing multilingual population.
The Economic Case for Foreign Language Skills
The global economy is shifting away from the English-speaking world. Since 1975, the English-speaking share of global GDP has fallen significantly and will continue to fall. The Chinese economy will surpass the U.S. economy in size soon after 2030. Latin America (Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking) and South Asia (Hindi- and Urdu-speaking) are growing strongly as well. Exports have accounted for half of postrecession U.S. economic growth, and future U.S. growth will increasingly depend on selling U.S. goods and services to foreign consumers who do not necessarily speak English.
In a competitive global export market, there will be a premium on foreign language skills and international competency. It is an old adage that you can buy in any language, but you must sell in the language of your customer. Business services such as banking, insurance, and architecture are the fastest-growing U.S. export sectors, and selling these services requires employees able to work effectively in non-English-speaking countries. In a survey of large U.S. corporations conducted ten years ago—when exports were less critical for the U.S. economy—30 percent responded that personnel with insufficient international skills prevented their companies from fully exploiting business opportunities. Eighty percent believed their sales would increase if they had more internationally competent staff.
The widespread use of English as the leading global second language, especially in business, does not offset the disadvantage faced by monolingual Americans. A 2011 survey of more than one hundred executives in large U.S. businesses found foreign nationals have an advantage in competing for international jobs. Three-quarters agreed that language skills made it easier for foreign nationals to work in the United States than for U.S. nationals to work overseas, leaving Americans at a significant disadvantage at a time when U.S.-based multinational companies are growing faster abroad than at home.
Please read more here.
Note that this program is contingent on parent interest and that families may come from outside the district’s boundaries:
PRESS RELEASE – ORANGE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
For immediate release Information: Superintendent’s Office (714) 628-4487
Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program Proposed at Fletcher Elementary
June 21, 2012 (Orange, CA) – Orange Unified School District (OUSD) is collecting interest surveys from parents who would like to enroll their child in a Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program. If offered, the program would be housed at Fletcher Elementary School during the 2012-2013 school year. The program will serve kindergarten through second grade, with future plans to expand through the secondary level.
The Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program curriculum will be taught in equal parts Mandarin Chinese and English. Each specially-trained teacher will prepare a class of 30 students. A Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) cluster component will be introduced in either 2012 or 2013. GATE eligibility will be based on existing District criteria.
Interested parents are requested to complete an interest survey, available online June 21–July 6 at http://www.orangeusd.org/mandarin, by July 6, 2012. Opening the program in 2012-2013 is contingent upon the interest survey results. If the responses generate enough interest, a parent orientation meeting will be scheduled.
Parents of students living outside of OUSD’s boundaries must submit an Inter-District Transfer Form for approval from both their home district and OUSD prior to enrollment.
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 