Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

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  • Portland, long a leader in Mandarin immersion, adding French

    French immersion charter school gets green light to open in Portland next fall

    Published: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 7:09 PM     Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 7:32 PM
    On a 4-3 vote, the Portland school board tonight approved the launch of a publicly funded French immersion elementary school in the city next fall.

    Seattle and Eugene already have public schools that teach students by immersing them in French, but this will be a first for the Portland area. Portland Public Schools offers elementary students immersion programs in Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin and Japanese.

    Three of seven school board members voted no on the French charter school, making this a rare divided vote for the elected Portland board. Ruth Adkins, Matt Morton and Martin Gonzalez cast the no votes.

    Backers of Le Monde Public Charter School say they think they can operate a financially and instructionally sound school even though they they will not receive the $500,000 in federal start-up grants that have helped launch nearly every other charter school in Oregon.

    Please read more here.

  • Some parents oppose Park City, Utah immersion programs

    Dual-immersion in the neighborhood

    McPolin will hold a meeting at the school on Dec. 15
    Megan Yeiter , The Park Record
    Posted: 12/13/2011 04:42:12 PM MST

    Several parents and community members are concerned about McPolin Elementary School’s dual-immersion program, which is set to be implemented next year. According to Park City School District Director of Curriculum Lori Gardner, the question is: in what capacity will the program be implemented.McPolin Elementary School Principal Bob Edmiston will hold a meeting on Thursday, Dec. 15, at 5:30 p.m. at MPES, for parents interested in learning more about the school’s dual-immersion options. Edmiston will present three models, according to Gardner, who said the school has a few different options to consider because of its unique demographic.

    “Bob will be presenting three options. One is the one-class model, which would involve about 25 first-grade students, half would be native Spanish speakers and half would be non-native Spanish speakers,” Gardner said. “The second would be the 50/50 model, which are the models we have at the other schools. This would involve about 50 to 55 students.”

    Another option would be the Whole School Model, which would begin with first-graders in 2012-2013, and expand a grade level each year. According to McPolin parents Mimi Denton, Ericha Oberg and Jen Kelly, this model raises issues for the people living within the boundaries of McPolin who don’t want their children enrolled in the dual-immersion program.

    Please read more here.

  • Portland Ore., home to a storied Mandarin program, may get French too

    After a lengthy public hearing and discussion Monday, the Portland school board is poised to decide Thursday whether to approve the metro area’s first public French immersion school.

    Backers of the proposed Le Monde Public Charter School want to open a 400-student full immersion French language school in Southwest Portland next fall. They would start with kindergarten and first grade, and all teaching would be in French except a short daily English language lesson for the first-graders, organizers say.

    As a charter school, it would be free to students and open to children from any area school district, with students chosen by lottery if more apply than there are seats available.

    Seattle and Eugene have public schools that offer French immersion, but Portland, with a large and active Francophile community, does not, said Linda Witt, director of the nonprofit Alliance Francaise of Portland, which offers continuing education in French to local adults.

    Please read more here.

  • New Jersey charter Mandarin program inches closer

    Hua Mei Charter School Makes First Cut in Latest Review

    Proposed charter school would draw students from West Orange

    Charter schools are inching ever closer to West Orange. The charter school application for Hua Mei, a Mandarin-immersion school that would draw students from West Orange, is one step closer to being approved, according to NJ Spotlight.

    Hua Mei is one of 17 proposed charter schools in New Jersey that is still in the running, according to Gov. Chris Christie. So far, more than half of the 42 charter school applications have been rejected.

    If approved, Hua Mei would be housed in the St. Joseph’s RC Church on Prospect Avenue in Maplewood and draw students from South Orange-Maplewood and West Orange.

    Superintendent of Schools Dr. Anthony Cavanna said Hua Mei would would drain money from school district.

    “If students from West Orange want to attend the charter school, the district has to pay a 90 percent per pupil expenditure to the charter school and it will add to the budget,” he said at Monday’s board of education meeting.

    Please read more here.

  • 58 Kindergarteners sign up for Mandarin immersion in Orange County

    58 Kindergartners Apply to Learn Chinese

    An early enrollment period nets nearly five dozen signups for for the county’s first public Mandarin Chinese immersion program, scheduled to start next fall in Capo Unified.

    Fifty-eight kindergartners signed up for the county’s first public-school Mandarin Chinese immersion program during an extra-early enrollment period, the Capistrano Unified School District announced Monday.

    The school district offered an uncharacteristically early application period between Dec. 1 and Dec. 9.

    Thalia Tong, one of the parents leading the effort to start the program, reacted to the news: “That’s exciting. I have mixed emotions, though, because I want everybody to get in. It’s definitely a great start.”

    The 58 applicants do not include any transfers from other school districts, said CUSD spokesman Marcus Walton.

    Please read more here.

  • Orange Co. applications now being accepted for Mandarin immersion

    Applications Being Accepted for Mandarin-Immersion Program
    by Jonathan Volzke
    Dec 10, 2011 | 192 views | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend | print

    The early application period is underway for the county’s only public-school Mandarin immersion program.

    The early application period will allow advocates a full semester to fundraise and establish support for the new program, which will be housed at Marian Bergeson Elementary School in Laguna Niguel. More than 160 families have expressed interest in the program.

    The Open Enrollment period runs through Friday, December 9. A second opportunity to apply for a spot in a second kindergarten or a first grade class will take place from February 1–10. Applications can be picked up and dropped off between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on days school is in session at Marian Bergeson Elementary School, 25302 Rancho Niguel Road.

    Read more: Dana Point Times – Applications Being Accepted for Mandarin Immersion Program

  • China’s Xinhua news agency on immersion in Los Angeles

    California public kindergarten focuses on Chinese language instruction
    English.news.cn   2011-12-10 10:08:36
    by George Bao, Xue Ying

    LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — Robert Icart is an African American who has never been to China, but he decided to send his 5-year-old son to a public school which conducts 90 percent of its teaching in Chinese in its kindergarten classes.

    “Here in the United States when I go shopping, I find most of the products are made in China, that shows me the importance of China and that has also encouraged me to send my son, Justyce, to the Eugene Field Elementary School,” Icart said.

    Eugene Field Elementary School is the only public school at the Pasadena Unified School District in Los Angeles Country of California that offers Chinese-English bilingual immersion programs.

    In its kindergarten, 90 percent of the teaching is in Chinese and 10 percent in English, and in the first grade, 80 percent in Chinese and 20 percent in English, while in the second grade 70 percent in Chinese and 30 percent in English.

    Now in its third year, this program has 4 classes and 110 students. The second grade is currently its highest level. As students progress through grade levels, they will ultimately reach a 50-50 split of the two languages they use in class by fifth grade.

    Icart, whose parents were from Haiti and wife from Mexico, runs a basketball training institute which helps talented student athletes to get into colleges and universities including those of the Ivy League. He is now trying to prepare his son for his life success in a globalized world with China as a more and more important player.

    “After looking into the economy and where it headed for, I found that Mandarin is going to be the most important language, not English,” said Icart, who sent Justyce to a language learning center to learn Mardarin when he was four. The family originally enrolled Justyce in another school but changed their mind one week before it started after they learnt about the immersion program of Eugene Field Elementary.

    Please read more here.