Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education
BY REBECCA RANDALL
The Lake Oswego Review, Jan 12, 2012
Portables at River Grove Elementary School or a magnet school at Bryant Elementary School are two options on the table for implementing Spanish and Mandarin language immersion beyond kindergarten next fall. The two options were presented to the Lake Oswego School Board Monday night.
Please read more here.
The meeting about Mandarin at Cherokee Elementary originally scheduled for Jan. 12 has been moved to Jan. 19 due to snow.
More on the schedule change here.
More here about the new program:
Program Overview
Lake Forest School District 67 is very proud of its first year implementation of theMandarin Immersion Program for kindergarten and first grade students. A significant early achievement is the Asia Society’s selection of Lake Forest schools as an exemplary program. The program is housed at Cherokee Elementary School, immersing 40 kindergarten and 32 first grade students in Mandarin Chinese. Students engage in a comprehensive partial immersion program with 50% of their day in the Mandarin-speaking classroom and 50% of their day in the English-speaking classroom. The Mandarin teacher instructs in mathematics, Chinese culture, and portions of social studies and science. The English teacher delivers instruction in language arts (reading, writing, and spelling) as well as portions of social studies, science, and math.
Kindergarten and first grade students rarely hear their Mandarin teachers speak English. Everything in the classroom is done in Mandarin regardless of the activity or curricular area of study. The Mandarin-speaking teachers use multiple strategies such as pictures, songs, video, models, body language, games, etc. to communicate and engage students. Although students do begin by speaking English to their classmates and Mandarin teacher, social exchanges and short responses in Mandarin soon become commonplace. Students are very proud and excited to speak the language, write Chinese characters, and show understanding of what their teacher is saying. As acquisition of the language grows, students show more confidence in their skills and quickly become comfortable in speaking Chinese.
The Algiers campus of the International School of Louisiana is accepting applications until Friday from families wanting to join its first kindergarten class to be taught in Mandarin Chinese. The Chinese language immersion program will open in August, becoming the first class of its kind in southeastern Louisiana according to an announcement from the school.
Susan Poag/The Times-PicayuneThe International School of Louisiana Algiers campus.The program will start with kindergarten and add grades over time.
Parents can obtain applications at the school, 502 Olivier Street in Algiers, or online. Anyone interested in more information may call the school at 504.274.4571.
More available here
The Mandarin immersion program of the San Francisco Unified School District will graduate its first 5th grade class this spring, and the first year of middle school Mandarin will begin in Fall of 2012 at Aptos Middle School. The program at Aptos will consist of four classes in English (English, Math, Science, Art/Music/PE) and two in Mandarin (Mandarin, Social Studies.)Hope Chinese Charter School Hope Chinese Charter School (HCCS) is a public elementary school providing a bilingual education in English and Mandarin Chinese. The HCCS immersion program challenges students in all academic subjects while also giving them high proficiency in two world languages. Open Enrollment Begins in January 2012
Our open enrollment period is January 2 through January 20, 2012. If space is available, applications will continue to be accepted after January 20th to fill any remaining openings. For the 2012-2013 academic year, we will be offering Kindergarten through second grade.
Our website address: www.hopeccs.org
Hope Chinese Charter School will be in the Beaverton School DIstrict
boundary and eventually grow to a K-8th school. We will be 75%
(Mandarin) Chinese in grades K-2 and gradually become 25% immersion in
the middle school grades.
Some useful background on the issues behind opposition to New Jersey’s proposed Mandarin immersion charter school.
When a charter school opens in a gritty urban neighborhood, few parents and officials argue that kids in the district don’t need an alternative to the local public schools. In a leafy New Jersey suburb — which may be home to some of the best schools in the country — charters can spark off a battle between skeptics and believers. The former often dismiss charters as “boutiques,” and argue that they’ll sap increasingly scarce dollars from local schools. The latter want their kids to have more choices and challenges — like Mandarin language immersion — and think their school taxes should pay for them.
Ultimately, the issue comes down to local control. Should school districts have the right to bar a charter from opening in their midst, as well as the right to refuse to pay for it?
Those questions were very much at issue on Friday night in Maplewood, an Essex County suburb, where about 100 parents, local officials, and state lawmakers showed up at a community center to protest a proposed world language school making its second try for charter approval.
Please read more here.
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