Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Mandarin teacher workshop, July 23-27 in San Francisco

    NOTE:  This program is designed  for “newer” Chinese teaches. From our previous programs, many participants had less than 3 years teaching Chinese language teaching experience. And, teachers with more experiences also benefited from this program. Again, it is open to all Chinese teachers.

     

    Dear Friends,

    The Mandarin Institute STARTALK Chinese Teacher Preparation Program 2012 registration is now open. It is an unparalleled opportunity for newer Chinese language teachers and teachers who are new to teaching in US classrooms, to gain concrete classroom experience teaching American students. For qualifying teachers the tuition fee will be waived and consideration for travel stipends will be given.

    Participants will engage in daily workshops led by master in-service instructors addressing issues such as teaching in the target language, immersion teaching skills, differentiated instruction, integrated performance assessment and classroom preparation. This program emphasizes “hands-on” training and enables participants to practice what they learn in authentic American classrooms with REAL students. Each micro-teaching opportunity will be followed by in-depth debriefing sessions. Critical communication skills will be learned through interaction with REAL school administrators, teacher peers and parents.

    Register now before seats are full!

    http://www.mandarininstitute.org/STARTALK2012_Teacher

    Program Dates: July 23 -27, 2012
Time: 9:00AM – 4:00PM
Location: Chinese American International School

    Contact: Benson Zhao bzhao@MandarinInstitute.org (415) 861-0966

  • HISD Names Principal for Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School

    Bryan Bordelon to lead the school, which opens in August

    February 9, 2012 – The Houston Independent School District has selected Bryan Bordelon as the principal of the new Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School.

    Bordelon speaks Mandarin Chinese with advanced proficiency and has a Master of Arts degree in China Studies from the University of Michigan. He is also pursuing a Master of Educational Administration as part of the University of Texas Collaborative Urban Leadership Project, a joint endeavor between HISD and the University of Texas. Bordelon has worked as a classroom teacher and currently serves as an HISD Teacher Development Specialist providing job coaching and support for English Language Arts teachers.

    “After conducting an international search, we found the right person to lead this exciting new school right here in HISD,” Superintendent Terry Grier said. “Bryan Bordelon is a perfect fit for this position. He recognizes the importance of preparing students to be global citizens and shares our commitment to offering a rigorous academic program at every grade level.”

    The school is currently accepting applications and those received before March 9 will be given priority. Visit the HISD Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School website (click here) for more information about the school or to download a copy of the application.

    Bordelon was raised abroad and spent 18 years living in Asia, the Middle East, and South America. In addition to speaking English and Mandarin Chinese, he also has some proficiency in Spanish and French.

    “I look forward to engaging the students in Chinese,” Bordelon said. “The kids are going to pick it up quickly. It is going to be second nature to them. They will have a much easier time learning the language than students in middle school, high school, or in their college years.”

    Students at HISD’s Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School have the opportunity to become fluent speakers, writers, and readers of Mandarin Chinese, the most spoken language in the world. They will also participate in enrichment activities that will highlight the Mandarin Chinese culture.

    The school will be located at the current Gordon Elementary campus, 6300 Avenue B in Bellaire. It will initially serve students from prekindergarten to second grade. Core subjects of language arts, math, science, and social studies will be taught primarily in Mandarin Chinese with time set aside each day for English language development instruction.

                                                                                                                        

     

    The Houston Independent School District is the largest school district in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States with 281 schools and more than 200,000 students. The 301-square-mile district is one of the largest employers in the Houston metropolitan area with nearly 30,000 employees.

    For more information, visit the HISD website at www.houstonisd.org.

                                                                                                                         

  • Illinois to decide whether to continue Mandarin immersion

    Dist. 220 parents say funding Chinese program would create hardships

    In the minds of many parents in Barrington Unit District 220, it’s an either-or decision that awaits school board members Tuesday when they choose between continuing a fledgling Chinese language immersion program or keeping class sizes in check.

    While most say they have nothing against the Chinese program, they believe the $243,000 it could cost would prevent the district from maintaining appropriate teacher-student ratios in other classrooms.

    “Don’t forget about the general education classroom,” said Mary Margaret Olson, a retired teacher whose granddaughters attend North Barrington School. “Having been in education myself, I know you can’t run these programs on soft money — grant money — because it isn’t always there year to year.”

    The Chinese immersion program is on the chopping block after the district learned last month it would no longer receive a federal grant to fund it. The program, in its first year, teaches Mandarin Chinese to students beginning in kindergarten and potentially through high school. After graduation, the students would have an option to continue the program at the University of Illinois.

    Please read more here.

  • Mandarin immersion in Idaho

    MERIDIAN, Idaho (WTW) — Adam Li holds up a tomato and asks his kindergarten class to identify it.

    “Fan qie!” a half-dozen students eagerly call out.

    Li next holds up a potato.

    The students quickly respond: “Tu dou!”

    In the classroom next door, Susan Parker stands before her first-grade class using an interactive smart board to show various monetary combinations. She points to a $1 bill and a penny, inquiring about the amount. A dozen kids raise their hands. Parker calls on 6-year-old Keirstan Knutson

    “Yi yuan ling yi fen,” answers Knutson, who comes to school from Mountain Home each day.

    These scenes of kindergarten and first-graders speaking, reading and writing Mandarin Chinese does not take place in a distant land, but at a Meridian School District elementary school in West Boise.

    Gateway School of Language and Culture is the only public elementary school in Idaho joining the national trend of adding Chinese to its curriculum, Principal Craig Ayala-Marshall said. It’s Meridian’s only dual-language elementary school program. Elsewhere in the Treasure Valley, the Boise district offers a Spanish dual-language program at Whitney and Whittier schools.

    Please read more here.

  • More on Utah immersion cuts

    Dual-immersion plans in jeopardy

    4:58 PM, Mar. 6, 2012  |

    Kindergarten students at Hurricane Elementary School participate in an art lesson with the school's arts and humanities teacher, Roma Hastings on Jan. 31. This year's kindergarten class at Hurricane Elementary was planned to be the first class to begin a Spanish language dual-immersion program when they enter first grade next fall.

    Kindergarten students at Hurricane Elementary School participate in an art lesson with the school’s arts and humanities teacher, Roma Hastings on Jan. 31. This year’s kindergarten class at Hurricane Elementary was planned to be the first class to begin a Spanish language dual-immersion program when they enter first grade next fall. / Jud Burkett / The Spectrum

    ST. GEORGE — Washington County could lose several of its planned dual-immersion language offerings if the Utah Legislature fails to fund the program, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said Tuesday.

    Five of 23 proposed new dual-language programs proposed for next year would be in Washington County schools, and one would be in the Iron County School District, but the item was not high enough on the list of funding requests to make it onto the budget proposed by the Executive Appropriations Subcommittee as of Tuesday.

    “It’s not that people aren’t interested in it, it’s just that people are committed to other things,” Stephenson said, adding that dual immersion needs a minimum of $800,000 or it would face cancellations.

    Please read more here.

  • 8 Mandarin immersion programs in Utah will shut without funding

    Dual-Immersion Funding Threatened

    by Stephen Dark

    POSTED // 2012-03-06 –

    Twenty-three schools in Utah are waiting to see today or tomorrow if their dual-immersion language programs will be lost.

    Without at least $800,000, schools across Utah face losing courses for elementary students that provide teaching for half a day in English and half a day in another language. Five languages are taught as part of the various dual-immersion programs throughout the state, principally Spanish and Mandarin.

    Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, chair of the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, put out a statement late last night criticizing the failure of the Executive Appropriations Subcommittee to not prioritize Utah’s dual-immersion program. “A thousand first-grade students will be denied a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in Utah’s dual-immersion program and lose the great opportunity of a bilingual education.”

    Dual-immersion classes, the statement noted, if begun in the first grade, not only greatly assist foreign language acquisition, but also have been shown to improve students’ “performance in other core subjects over their non-immersion peers.

    Please read more here.

  • LA school board member’s support of immersion one reason he’s likely to be re-elected

    Redistricting inspires Zimmer to seek reelection to school board

    BY GARY WALKER

    FOUR MORE YEARS? – Steve Zimmer announced to The Argonaut that he will be seeking reelection to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education. (Argonaut photo by Gary Walker)

    Having faced the possibility of being taken out of the district that he has represented for three years, Steve Zimmer became convinced of the career path he would embark upon for the near future.

    In his first public declaration regarding his future with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education, Zimmer, who was elected in 2009, told The Argonaut in an exclusive interview March 1 that he will be seeking reelection next year.

    He said his experience with a redistricting commission map last month that initially removed him from and later returned him to District 4 and seeing the reaction from Westside and Hollywood parents who protested losing him as their LAUSD representative made the decision an easy one.

    Please read more here.