Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Magnet schools, including language immersion, popular in Winston Salem

    Magnet schools attract curiosity

    By: TRAVIS FAIN | Winston-Salem Journal

    Published: January 08, 2012

    Hundreds of parents and students came to the Benton Convention Center on Saturday to whet their appetites at the buffet of magnet schools the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system offers.

    Prospective students got a look at 18 schools, each with a tailored focus to learning. For budding artists, there are arts-focused programs at several schools. For those hoping to be engineers, there are science and technology schools for every grade level.

    For the soon-to-be chefs, there’s the culinary arts program at Kennedy High School.

    Please read more here.

  • NJ rejects Mandarin

    Edward M. O’Mara, Village Grande Civic Association
    To the editor:

    Recently, Acting Commissioner Christopher Cerf denied the applications to two boutique Mandarin immersion schools . . . Hanyu International Academy (HIACS) and Hua Mei School.

    We are happy for the taxpayers in Livingston, Millburn, Maplewood, and West, South and East Orange. They have been spared the cost of providing a private education to a select few at public expense.

       We want to thank the commissioner for finally realizing that in this economic environment, there is no room for taxpayer subsidized private schools masquerading as charter schools.

    However, we would like the education commissioner to give the same consideration to the taxpayers in West Windsor, Plainsboro, Princeton and South Brunswick by denying another extension and rejecting the charter school proposal by the Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS).

    The taxpayers in these towns, which cover the 14th, 15th, and 16th NJ legislative districts deserve the same treatment as was given to taxpayers in northern New Jersey. Furthermore, PIACS would be a duplication of the Mandarin language arts already offered in our public schools.

    Please read more here.

  • Brooklyn School to open Mandarin & French immersion next year

    Some Schools Buck Trend Of High Costs

    By SOPHIA HOLLANDER

    Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street JournalWilliamsburg Northside kept tuition low—at $21,850—for its elementary school, which it opened in 2009. The private school also has an infant and toddler center and a preschool.

    In an age of private school educations that cost up to $40,000 a year, eight new or expanding Brooklyn schools are attracting attention with a simple appeal: lower tuition.

    These schools charge a range of annual prices—from nothing for some low-income students to as much as $23,000 at the most expensive end—that they say draws a more diverse student body. The schools also tend to feature progressive education styles, a commitment to engaging with their local neighborhoods and an international flair.

    “From the very beginning we made the conscious choice to keep our tuition low so we could be a real choice to the public schools as well as other private schools,” said Amy Warden, the head of school at Williamsburg Northside, which opened an elementary school in 2009 and charges $21,850.

    Please read more here, (news of the Brooklyn school is in the last paragraph)

  • Many families “don’t get” value of language immersion

    The Sensitive Subject of Educational Reform

    Posted: 1/16/12 04:18 PM ET
     From the Huffington Post

    I am a SWISS Trilingual School parent. I am also the director of this small, unfortunately private, full-immersion school in Atlanta, Ga. Currently we are a K-3rd elementary school, and projected to the 12th grade. Most importantly, I am “G’s” mom and her awesomeness has nothing to do with me. I believe that a full-immersion language acquisition education is the future of education, not just in America, but around the world, and I believe that this investment will save our world economy.

    Our journey began with my sister and her husband, parents to two girls who, from birth, were exposed to Japanese, French, Chinese, Spanish and English. Live-in au pairs and tutors helped to make this possible. When they married they decided to invest all of their money where they thought it would be most useful: in their children. By 2006 they moved to Atlanta and opened a school. With the impending birth of our daughter, we moved to Atlanta in 2008 so that she could receive this gift. On the day of her birth, she was held by my sister’s Japanese au-pair. From the day of her birth my sister spoke to her entirely in French. When she was 1 year old, her best friend was a 15-year-old Taiwanese exchange student. At 13 months, she said, “I want cake” in Mandarin; our decision had been validated.

     

    Please read more here.

  • 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.