By Andrea Hughes

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Millburn Board of Education members stated their opposition loud and clear regarding the applications for two charter schools that could draw students from the district.

Applications for two Mandarin-themed elementary level charter schools, Hanyu International Academy and Hua Mei Charter School, have been submitted to the Department of Education. The public school districts in the schools’ catchment area, including Millburn, have until May 30 to send comments to the state.

At the May 23 board meeting, members passed a resolution allowing Superintendent of Schools James Crisfield to comment to the state in opposition to the schools. They also passed a resolution supporting a New Jersey School Boards Association resolution which states that local voters should have control over the approval for charter schools.

More here.

From Patch

The Board of Education will urge New Jersey school leaders to deny applications for two Mandarin-immersion charter schools in Livingston.

Voting unanimously, the board members hope a letter – now in draft form – will persuade Acting Education Commission Christopher Cerf to deny charters for Hanyu International Academy Charter School and Hua Mei Charter School.

“When charter schools were started, even then I wasn’t a fan of them,” said Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), who joined the nearly full house in the auditorium at Livingston High School for public discussion on charter schools. “I think the jury’s still out if the vision was urban as oppose to suburban.”

Acting separately at their meeting at town hall, the Township Council voted 4-1 to oppose the charter applications as well. Councilwoman Deborah Shapiro, who is a founder of Hanyu International, did not abstain and voted against the resolution.

Read more here.

A production crew  from China Central Television was filming at Starr King Elementary school in San Francisco on Friday. The focus of her story was on “the rise in Mandarin immersion programs in the United States,” says Rachel Silverman of CCTV. The story should air in the coming weeks. We’ll post a link to it when it does.

The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature

Edited by Victor H. Mair and Mark Bender

Paper, 800 pages, 1 map
ISBN: 978-0-231-15313-3
$37.50

May, 2011
Cloth, 800 pages, 1 map
ISBN: 978-0-231-15312-6
$105.00 / £72.50

In The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature, two of the world’s leading sinologists, Victor H. Mair and Mark Bender, capture the breadth of China’s oral-based literary heritage. This collection presents works drawn from the large body of oral literature of many of China’s recognized ethnic groups—including the Han, Yi, Miao, Tu, Daur, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Kazak—and the selections include a variety of genres. Chapters cover folk stories, songs, rituals, and drama, as well as epic traditions and professional storytelling, and feature both familiar and little-known texts, from the story of the woman warrior Hua Mulan to the love stories of urban storytellers in the Yangtze delta, the shaman rituals of the Manchu, and a trickster tale of the Daur people from the forests of the northeast. The Cannibal Grandmother of the Yi and other strange creatures and characters unsettle accepted notions of Chinese fable and literary form. Readers are introduced to antiphonal songs of the Zhuang and the Dong, who live among the fantastic limestone hills of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; work and matchmaking songs of the mountain-dwelling She of Fujian province; and saltwater songs of the Cantonese-speaking boat people of Hong Kong. The editors feature the Mongolian epic poems of Geser Khan and Jangar; the sad tale of the Qeo family girl, from the Tu people of Gansu and Qinghai provinces; and local plays known as “rice sprouts” from Hebei province. These fascinating juxtapositions invite comparisons among cultures, styles, and genres, and expert translations preserve the individual character of each thrillingly imaginative work.

More here.

From the Lake Oswego Review

Board should vote ‘si’ or ‘shide’ for Spanish, Chinese immersion program

By Sarah Howell

, May 19, 2011

SUBMITTED FILE PHOTO

The Lake Oswego School District’s Mandarin PreK immersion program, shown here during a special program earlier this year at Palisades Elementary School, is providing valuable language experience to students at a young age.

The demand for these programs has never been greater. LOSD now offers Spanish immersion classrooms for PreK and Kindergarten, and Mandarin immersion classrooms for preschool/PreK. Classrooms have wait lists heading into fall 2011.

More here.

Another editorial on the same topic in the same paper:

Keep school language immersion programs

By Cindi Moyle

, May 19, 2011

Our community is at an exciting crossroads for the next generation of learners. We have succesfully experienced Mandarin and Spanish Language Immersion programs in our local schools with extrodinary demand to keep the programs going through fifth grade and beyond!

I am the Mother of a 5-year-old girl in the Chinese program. The benefits have been astounding. Shown as early as the first week of school through her increased creativity of playing and building things, to her wall art, and caring for others. It was clear to us that a new side of her brain was awakening.

As we near the end of the first year, our 5 year old can count into her 30s in Chinese, and into her 60s in English. She can name most basic colors and shapes in Chinese, and, of course, English. She can name several objects, fruits, vegetables and animals in Chinese and sing Chinese songs. The final icing on the cake though was a couple weeks ago when she asked me, “Mom, do you know what 7 plus 4 equals?” Then she gives me the answer! She has recently started reading in English as well.

More here

Just found this web site by a group of families working for immersion near Silicon Valley.

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About Multilingual Kids
Bienvenidos! Ni Hao! Welcome!  We’re a group of San Carlos, Belmont, and Redwood Shores families who are interested in increasing the language learning opportunities for our school-aged children.  We are advocating for Spanish and/or Mandarin language immersion elementary school classes and high-quality after school language enrichment programs.

You can find their site here.

What we don’t understand is why, if there’s clearly so much interest in Mandarin in this part of NJ, the school district’s don’t simply launch Mandarin immersion programs. Generally speaking, MI programs don’t cost that much more as bilingual teachers aren’t paid more.

From Maplewood Patch

Cerf’s Comments Spur Questions About Support for ‘Boutique’ Charters in Suburbia

Acting Education Commissioner says there’s room to debate special-interest charter schools.

By Marilyn Joyce Lehren | Email the author | May 15, 2011

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Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf acknowledged that what he called “boutique” charter schools, such as those offering language immersion programs, might not be needed in suburban districts that are “humming along.”

At a forum sponsored by NJ Spotlight last week in Newark, Cerf cited a proposed Mandarin-immersion charter in Princeton in questioning whether the harm such charters could cause to their districts outweighs their potential to enhance a “portfolio” of educational offerings.

“I think you really can have a very serious debate, the outcome of which is unclear, as to whether that rounds out the portfolio or impairs the success of the overall district,” Cerf said.

What Cerf’s statement means for the future of applications to open two Mandarin-immersion charters in some Essex County districts — including one in Maplewood — is unclear, but it could signal a change in the acting commissioner’s thinking about the role on charters in high-performing suburban districts.

Charter schools are public schools that use tax dollars but operate independently of the school district. Nationally, charter schools do about as well as regular public schools, though the best charters in the country are credited in raising the achievement of low-income children.

More here.