Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Illinois school gets $1.5 million grant for Mandarin

    Sen. Dick Durbin visited Barbara Rose School in South Barrington Friday afternoon to observe a first-grade Chinese-language immersion class and formally present the $1.5 million federal grant that made it possible.

    Middle school students from Barrington Unit District 220 also were there to greet the senator with dancing Chinese dragons and share some of their two years of instruction in Mandarin.

    The first graders were relatively new to the language, but showed off their early knowledge by holding up the appropriate pages with the Chinese phrases spoken by their teacher. They then played another game by laying out the multicolored pages on the floor and jumping from one to another as their teacher indicated in Chinese where to go next.

    Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110225/news/702259807/#ixzz1F5DLOUmH

  • District nixes Boston Mandarin immersion school

    It’s a no-go for proposed Mandarin immersion school

    by Staff Writer on February 25, 2011

    Disappointing news has hit supporters of the proposed Boston Chinese Immersion Charter School (BCICS).  On February 17, Massachusetts education commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended that seventeen applications be granted charters by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.  Yet, such an endorsement does not include BCICS.

    “Needless to say, we are very disappointed… We have been on this journey for more than a year.  It’s been a wonderful adventure.  Thanks so much for your encouragement and support,” wrote Helen Chin Schlichte, one of twelve founding members of BCICS, in a statement.

    The recommendations include fourteen Commonwealth charter schools and three Horace Mann, or so-called “in-district,” charter schools in Boston, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lynn, New Beford, Salem and Springfield.
    “I have every expectation that these seventeen charter schools, if granted a charter by the Board later this month, will be well positioned to succeed academically and become high performing organizations,” Chester said in a statement, “This year’s group of applicants was impressive in terms of the volume of interested parties; the quality of the proposals; and the potential to provide students with a strong academic program.”

    Read more here.

    Here’s the web site for the parent group who tried to start the school:

  • Mandarin generating interest in Vancouver BC

    Young Mandarin voices resonate at Vancouver
    English.news.cn 2011-02-23 15:36:39
    by Al Campbell

    VANCOUVER, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — More schools in British Columbia are expressing interest in offering Chinese immersion classes following the success of this western Canadian province’s first Confucius Classroom.

    In Coquitlam, a suburban city of Vancouver, the local school board has been offering “a dual language learning experience” for about 75 children at the kindergarten and grade-one levels since the start of the school year in September.

    Under the tutelage of two native Mandarin-speaking and two English-speaking teachers, the children, all between five and seven, have been studying under a full-time curriculum comprising a half day of Mandarin study and a half day of English courses.

    The Chinese programs cover physical education, mathematics, health and career education and Chinese language arts, while the English ones cover fine arts, science, social studies and English language arts.

    Sandra Meister, principal of Walton Elementary, which houses British Columbia’s only Confucius Classroom, said the success of the program has surpassed expectation and that the school is planning to expand it.

    Read more here.

  • How to write in Chinese on the computer

    For when you want to write China as 中国 and not just Zhong guo, here are a variety of web pages that explain how to do it. It’s really not that hard and once you’ve got it installed it’s very easy to input – and kids love to write things in Chinese on the computer. Different operating systems use different methods to set it up, but the pages below should walk you through it. If you still get lost, hop on one of the MIPC email lists and someone can talk you through your specific program.

    For an overview, Wikipedia has an article on Chinese input methods for computers

    Windows:

    Writing Chinese on the Windows Platform

    A nice overview from the East Asian Studies Dept. at the University of the Redlands, Calif.

    How to Write With Chinese Characters in Microsoft Word

    This article walks you through the set up.

    Reading and writing Chinese with Microsoft Windows

    Lots of details in this page.

    Macintosh:

    Character Activation: Chinese Simplified

    This article walks you through it page by page.

    How to type toned pinyin on a Mac

    This article also shows you how to get the tone marks over the vowels.

    How do you type in Chinese on a Macbook?

    This article has no images, but nice text description of how to set your Mac up to type in Chinese.

  • iPad Mandarin story apps

    For parents with iPads:

    There’s an app that will read stories in Mandarin, with either simplified or traditional character subtitles. The apps are between $2.99 and 99 cents each. Great for car rides and a guilt-free way to let your kids get on the computer — they’re working on their Mandarin…

    They’re from Taiwanese educational software company 5Q Channel.

    To find them, type “5qchannel” in iTunes store to search them.

    There are two icon colors, blue is for apps using traditional Chinese characters, red for simplified characters.

    You can also find them at:

    http://www.5qchannel.com/ipad/indexs.htm

    or on Facebook(english) :

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chinese-Reading-Apps-on-iPad/134328633285931?v=wall

    Here are the simplified apps:

    1. Chinese Reading – Generous Grandmother and Evil Grandmother 善惡婆婆 :
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin) & traditional Chinese(with bopomofo)
    Release Date : Nov 14, 2010
    Price : $1.99

    2. Chinese Reading – The Tortoise and the Hare 龟兔赛跑
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin) & traditional Chinese(with bopomofo)
    Release Date : Nov 18, 2010
    Price : $0.99

    3. Chinese Reading – Frog and Sea Turtle 井蛙和大海龜 :
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin) & traditional Chinese(with bopomofo)
    Release Date : Nov 18, 2010
    Price : $1.99

    4. Chinese Reading – Bird Lifts the Sky 小鳥舉天
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin) & traditional Chinese(with bopomofo)
    Release Date : Dec 6, 2010
    Price : $0.99

    5. Chinese Reading – The Snake Deity 蛇神
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin) & traditional Chinese(with bopomofo)
    Release Date : Dec 6, 2010
    Price : $0.99

    6. Chinese Reading – Dragon Borrows Horns from Rooster 龙向鸡借角
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Dec 23, 2010
    Price : $0.99

    7. Chinese Reading – Fox Borrowing the Awe of Tiger 狐假虎威
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Dec 23, 2010
    Price : $0.99

    8. Chinese Reading – The Lamp Keeper 灯猴
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Dec 23, 2010
    Price : $0.99

    9. Chinese Reading – Chinese Fables 1 寓言1：鹬蚌相争 + 没水的鱼
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Jan 2, 2011
    Price : $0.99

    10. Chinese Reading – Nian is Coming 年来了
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Jan 2, 2011
    Price : $0.99

    11. Chinese Reading – Peach Wood Charms 桃符
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Jan 10, 2011
    Price : $0.99

    12. Chinese Reading – The Legend of the Lantern Festival 元宵节传说
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Jan 10, 2011
    Price : $0.99

    13. Chinese Reading – The Timid Hare 胆小的兔子
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Jan 10, 2011
    Price : $0.99

    14. Chinese Reading – To Stand by a Tree Stump Waiting for a Hare 守株待兔
    Language : simplified Chinese(with pinyin)
    Release Date : Jan 10, 2011
    Price : $0.99

    15. 中文动画书 － 六个新年动画故事 Six Stories of Chinese New Year
    Language : simplified Chinese
    Release Date : Jan 16, 2011
    Price : $2.99

    5Q Channel plans to have an iPhone app out in March.

  • Speaking 2 languages may delay getting Alzheimer’s

    Updated Feb 18, 2011 3:27 PM |

    Mastering a second language can pump up your brain in ways that seem to delay getting Alzheimer’s disease later on, scientists said Friday.

    Never learned to habla or parlez? While the new research focuses mostly on the truly long-term bilingual, scientists say even people who tackle a new language later in life stand to gain.

    The more proficient you become, the better, but “every little bit helps,” said Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at York University in Toronto.

    Much of the study of bilingualism has centered on babies, as scientists wondered why simply speaking to infants in two languages allows them to learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. Their brains seem to become more flexible, better able to multitask. As they grow up, their brains show better “executive control,” a system key to higher functioning — as Bialystok puts it, “the most important part of your mind.”

    But does that mental juggling while you’re young translate into protection against cognitive decline when you’re old?

    Bialystok studied 450 Alzheimer’s patients, all of whom showed the same degree of impairment at the time of diagnosis. Half are bilingual — they’ve spoken two languages regularly for most of their lives. The rest are monolingual.

    The bilingual patients had Alzheimer’s symptoms and were diagnosed between four and five years later than the patients who spoke only one language, she told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    Being bilingual does nothing to prevent Alzheimer’s disease from striking. But once the disease does begin its silent attack, those years of robust executive control provide a buffer so that symptoms don’t become apparent as quickly, Bialystok said.

    “They’ve been able to cope with the disease,” she said.

    Her work supports an earlier study from other researchers that also found a protective effect.

    Form USA Today

  • MIPC meeting

    Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

    Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011

    6:00 – 8:00

    At Starr King Elementary School, 1215 Carolina Street, San Francisco

    Summer Camps 6:00 – 6:45:  Mandarin language summer camp information and presentation.

    Chinese 101 6:45 – 7:30: A little background for non-Chinese speakers to help understand the language our kids are learning.

    Committee Updates & Questions: 7:30 – 8:00

    – Middle School

    – Spring Chinese banquet

    – 5th grade China trip in 2012

    Come meet other parents from the Mandarin immersion program at Starr King and Jose Ortega, learn more about the program and the language and get involved.

    Paid child care & snack available: $10 per child. Email weise@well.com to sign up.