Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • More parents see value in Mandarin language instruction


    Chinese1-0120-ED-ELM-170.jpg
    Paul Iwanaga

    Foreign language immersion program from Language Stars features William Li from Bejing in a play-based program at the Elmhurst Public Library, Jan. 12, 2012. Li gets “five” from an audience member. Staff photo by Paul Iwanaga | snapshots.mysuburbanlife.com/1394381

    Chinese1-0120-ED-ELM-170.jpg
    Chinese2-0120-ED-ELM-170.jpg
    Posted Jan 20, 2012 @ 02:28 PM
    Elmhurst, IL —

    It offers foreign language education staples German, French and Italian, but it’s Mandarin Chinese that’s now the second most popular course, after Spanish, at Language Stars.

    “Parents are recognizing that Mandarin is up-and-coming, and important in the global business market,” said Katy Mass, marketing director for Language Stars, a Hinsdale-based business that teaches foreign languages to young children. “And they want their children to have that advantage.”

    The business started offering Mandarin about eight or nine years ago, she said, and added that other reasons, beyond forward looking career success, have also led parents to enroll their students in the eastern language.

    “We … have a lot of families who had adopted children from China, and they’d like to have their children continue in their native language,” she said. “And then we have a lot of parents, or dads, who do business in China.”

    The business hosted three free different story and game times in French, Spanish and Mandarin, respectively, at the Elmhurst Public Library last week.

    Please read more here.

  • District 27 Senate Applauds DOE’s Decision To Reject Hua Mei Charter School

    District 27 Senate Applauds DOE’s Decision To Reject Hua Mei Charter School

    BY   |  SATURDAY, JAN 21, 2012 12:49PM  |  COMMENTS (0)

     This release was just sent from the District 27 Senate, which includes Senator Richard J. Codey, Assemblywoman Mila M. Jasey and Assemblyman John F. McKeon, who attended the rally against Hua Mei, the proposed Mandarin Immersion charter on January 6:

    Senator Richard J. Codey, Assemblywoman Mila M. Jasey and Assemblyman John F. McKeon applaud Friday’s decision by state Department of Education Acting Commisioner Chris Cerf rejecting the Hua Mei charter school application.

    The proposed Maplewood based Mandarin-immersion school would have drawn students from the South Orange\Maplewood and West Orange school districts, and potentially impacted Livingston and Millburn. All of these communities are part of District 27, represented by the three lawmakers.

    “This is a victory for the people of our district who fought hard to oppose a charter school in one of our state’s highest performing school districts,” Codey (D-Essex\Morris) said. “We were glad to be able to lead the fight to stop and prevent funds from being diverted from our already cash-strapped public schools.”

     

    Please read more here.

  • VIDEO: Chinese immersion programs could be among federal cuts for Beaufort County schools

     

    By RACHEL HEATON
    rheaton@beaufortgazette.com
    843-706-8177
    Published Monday, January 23, 2012
    Follow ‘Homeroom’ on Twitter

    Documents

    When a visitor enters one classroom at Hilton Head Island Elementary School, 26 first-graders turn toward the door and shout their welcome.”Ni Hao!”

    That’s “hello” in Mandarin.

    The students solve math problems in the language and follow basic classroom commands. They’ve learned about Chinese culture and dutifully work to write the language’s intricate characters.

    The class learns mostly in Mandarin as part of an immersion program the Beaufort County School District began in 2010. More than 80 first- and second-graders at Hilton Head Elementary and Broad River Elementary schools participate.

    But the grant that funds them — the Foreign Language Assistance Program, which provided $1.3 million over five years — could be cut from the federal budget this year. Those grants would have run through 2015, but funding for the program has been eliminated by the House of Representatives. The legislation has not passed the Senate.That means the district would have to find the money for its programs elsewhere, reduce their scope or end them altogether.

  • More parents demand immersion programs to help children thrive in a global society

    Learning in multiple languages

    More parents demand immersion programs to help children thrive in a global society

    Teaching assistant Jiao Yang directs Leo Edward Martinez to the whiteboard during an assignment in Mandarin immersion at Riverview Elementary School in Lakeside.
    Teaching assistant Jiao Yang directs Leo Edward Martinez to the whiteboard during an assignment in Mandarin immersion at Riverview Elementary School in Lakeside. — John Gastaldo
    Photo of

    Written by
    Maureen Magee
     A kindergartner at Nestor Language Academy, Violet Jaime, is taught just about everything in Spanish — reading, writing, math, music and what’s on the menu in the cafeteria. So are her classmates, a combination of English and Spanish speakers.
    English instruction will gradually increase to 50 percent by fifth grade, when most Nestor students typically achieve bilingual status.

    At Lakeside’s Riverview Elementary School, second-grader Leah Markworth’s education is delivered in equal parts Mandarin and English, with regular supplements of Spanish.

    Read more here.

  • Venice, Calif. MI students celebrate the Spring Festival

    Broadway Elementary in Venice Celebrates Chinese New Year

    Students in the Mandarin Immersion Program at Broadway Elementary in Venice celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

    (A tip o’ the pen to Patch, AOL’s local news organization. They’re doing some of the best local coverage of immersion programs nationwide. If there is a Patch blog in your area, I encourage you to reach out to them about your Mandarin immersion school. They seem to be the only ones who realize this is a true national trend. -Beth)

    • January 24, 2012
    First-grade Broadway Mandarin Immersion students celebrate the Year of the Dragon on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Credit Courtesy of Erika Beck

    Students enrolled in the Mandarin Immersion Program at Broadway Elementary School in Venice celebrated Chinese New Year on Tuesday. An assembly was held on the playground and featured students enrolled in the largest Los Angeles Unified School District Mandarin Immersion Program on the Westside.

    Please read more here.

  • The Growing Alternative To English-Only Education

    Immersion Programs Offered In English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, French

    By Alyse Shorland

    POSTED: 1:35 pm PST January 25, 2012
UPDATED: 5:34 am PST January 26, 2012

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    At Monday’s debate in Florida, Newt Gingrich said this week he supports English as an official language of the United States: “I think it is essential to have a central language that we expect people to learn and to be able to communicate with each other in,” he said.(CNN) — Republicans vying for the GOP presidential nomination are debating and disagreeing about the economy and foreign policy, but they backed each other on one issue this week: the English language.

    Mitt Romney said everyone in school should be learning in English: “English is the language of this nation,” he said. “People need to learn English to be able to be successful, to get great jobs.”

    Romney, in his 2010 book, “No Apologies: the Case for American Greatness,” highlighted his support for English-only immersion in Massachusetts public schools. As governor, he led the state to pass a law against bilingual education, mandating one year of English-only transitional language instruction for anyone learning the language before moving to mainstream classrooms. California and Arizona have similar laws.

    Read more: http://www.kcra.com/education/30299068/detail.html#ixzz1kaAN7Pt4

  • Vancouver Wash. Mandarin immersion program celebrates its first Chinese New Year

    Fired up for year of the dragon at Vancouver elementary

    Portland Lee’s Association Lion Dance Team performs during a program to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Ben Franklin Elementary School on Friday.

    Photo by Zachary Kaufman

    Portland Lee’s Association Lion Dance Team performs during a program to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Ben Franklin Elementary School on Friday.

    By Jacques Von Lunen, Columbian staff writer

    Friday, January 20, 2012

    photo

    By Zachary Kaufman

    First-graders in Ben Franklin Elementary School’s Mandarin Chinese immersion program, from left, Sydney Stahl, 6, and Julia Schweppe, 7, perform in a program to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

    PHOTO GALLERY

    Chinese New Year

    Ben Franklin Elementary School celebrates the Chinese New Year.

    Parents smiled politely while their kids performed a dance at Ben Franklin Elementary School’s assembly Friday morning. The first- and second-graders looked adorable, slapping their partners’ palms while singing jolly rhymes.

    But most of the parents had no idea what their kids were saying.

    The Vancouver students were joining hundreds of millions of people around the world in celebrating the most important holiday on the Chinese lunar calendar — the arrival of the new year.

    And although very few of the students appeared to be of Chinese heritage, most of their songs, rhymes and announcements were performed in Mandarin Chinese.

    Please read more here.