Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

recent posts

about

  • 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.

  • Minn. Immersion conference deadline extended

    Subscribe to CARLA Newsletters                  Can’t see the graphics? View this on the web             Facebook Twitter More...
    University of Minnesota
    CARLA Email HeaderCARLA color bar
    Conference AnnouncementPlease Post/Distribute
    graphic - colored bar
    Call for Proposals – Deadline extended!

    Fourth International Immersion Conference

    Immersion 2012:
    Bridging Contexts for a Multilingual World

    October 18-20, 2012
    Crowne Plaza St. Paul-Riverfront
    St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Featured Plenary Speakers

    Donna Christian, Senior Fellow, Center for Applied Linguistics, USA 
    Ester de Jong, Associate Professor, University of Florida, USA
    Tīmoti Kāretu, Executive Director, Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, New Zealand
    Roy Lyster, Professor, McGill University, Canada 
    Merrill Swain, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, Canada

    Conference Description

    Language immersion education continues to evolve as a highly effective program model for launching students on the road to bi- and multilingualism and intercultural competence. School-based immersion programs commit to a minimum of 50% subject-matter schooling through a second, world, heritage, or indigenous language at the preschool and elementary levels with varying amounts of subject-based language learning support throughout secondary and post-secondary education. Program models include one-way world language immersion, two-way bilingual immersion, and indigenous/heritage immersion for language and culture revitalization. While each model targets distinct sociocultural contexts and educational needs, all embrace language, literacy and culture development through subject matter learning.

    Under the leadership of the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota (CARLA), the fourth international conference on immersion education brings these models together to engage in research-informed dialogue and professional exchange across languages, levels, learner audiences, and sociopolitical contexts.

    CARLA is currently seeking proposals for papers, discussion sessions, and symposia on aspects of language immersion education related to four conference themes:

    Theme 1:  Immersion Pedagogy and Assessment
    Theme 2:  Culture, Identity, and Community
    Theme 3:  Program Design, Leadership, and Evaluation
    Theme 4:  Policy, Advocacy, and Communications

    In addition to basic, applied, and evaluation research, conference organizers welcome a range of practitioner perspectives including immersion teachers, administrators, curriculum coordinators, parents, and specialists who work in immersion programs. Papers, presentations, discussion sessions, and symposia may report on data-based research, theoretical and conceptual analyses, or best practices in language immersion classrooms.

    Proposal Submission

    The deadline for submissions has been extended to March 26, 2012.

    For submission details see: http://www.carla.umn.edu/conferences/immersion2012/call.html

     
    graphic - colored bar
    The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota houses one of several Title VI Language Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education to improve the nation’s capacity to teach and learn foreign languages effectively. CARLA supports a number of coordinated programs of research, training, development and dissemination of information relating to second language teaching and learning.

    CARLA emails are designed to give second language teachers and researchers current information on the programs and projects currently operating under the auspices of CARLA. You are also invited to visit the CARLA website athttp://www.carla.umn.edu/. For more information about all the Title VI Language Resource Centers, visit our joint site athttp://nflrc.msu.edu/.

    We hope that you enjoy receiving periodic updates from CARLA. We encourage you to share this email with colleagues who may be interested.  Anyone can sign up to receive updates from CARLA at http://www.carla.umn.edu/about/mlist.html.If you would like us to take you off the list, please e-mail the center at carla@umn.edu.

    Elaine Tarone, CARLA Director
    Karin Larson, Coordinator

     
    graphic - colored bar
    Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)
    140 University International Center • 331 17th Ave SE • Minneapolis, MN 55414
    © 2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
    The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer
    Last modified: Friday, 27-January-2012.
    graphic - colored bar

  • Orange County holds fundraiser for coming Mandarin immersion program

    A fundraiser for the new Mandarin Chinese immersion program dazzled attendees with the sights and sounds and flavors of China.

    It was Chinese New Year again. The holiday was celebrated on Jan. 23 on our calendar.

    But parents wanting to raise money for Orange County’s first-ever, public school Mandarin Chinese immersion program, needed a little extra time to pull together a luncheon extravaganza. The event featured silent auctions, a traditional lion dance, other dances and a Chinese feast at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center in Rancho Santa Margarita.

    It may be Year of the Dragon, but it’s the year of the Bulldogs for these incoming students. The bulldogs are the mascot of Marian Bergeson Elementary in Laguna Niguel, where the program will launch with kindergarten and first grade in September.

    Please read more here.