“Nihao, Hou Laoshi!”
The Best Moment for a Chinese Guest Teacher
By Amanda Yan Hou

In the summer of 2010, I became the guest teacher at the MaST Community Charter School in Philadelphia. In the first day of school, the kids who knew no Chinese were able to say “Nihao, Hou Laoshi!” My students’ first Chinese sentence is as beautiful as the best melody in the world! But in the second day, I totally lost control of my class. After a long night in tears, I realized that I have to cheer up…Read more

“你好，侯老师！” 客座中文老师最美好的时刻
２０１０年夏天，我成为了费城MaST的客座中文老师。开学第一天，之前对中文一无所知的小家伙们已经会说：”你好，侯老师！” 我的学生们第一次开口讲的汉语，真得如音乐般悦耳。但没想到的是，第二天我的课堂竟完全失控。在一个长长的以泪洗面的夜晚过后，我意识到自己必须尽快振作起来……中文全文

Most school districts start with Spanish and add Mandarin immersion later. Evergreen, in Vancouver, Wash., did it the other way.

Evergreen schools to offer English-Spanish immersion program

Kindergartners in one classroom next fall will greet their new teacher with “Hola” instead of “Hello.”

A couple of dozen native English- and Spanish-speaking 5- and 6-year-olds will share a classroom for a new two-way immersion program at Marrion Elementary School. The dual-language program is the first of what Evergreen Public Schools’ officials hope to be many immersion programs offered to students.

The 28-student classroom will be half native English speakers and half native Spanish speakers. District officials are asking parents to commit to the six-year program that runs through fifth grade, said Tom Nadal, Evergreen director of elementary education. There is no tuition for the program.

The kindergartners will receive 90 percent of classroom instruction in Spanish and 10 percent in English. The following year, instruction will be split 80-20, then 70-30 and so on until reaching 50-50 in fourth grade. Fifth grade instruction will also be split 50-50, Nadal said.

“They end up biliterate at a fifth-grade level and fluent in both languages,” he said.

The program will immerse English-speaking students in a foreign language while also teaching Spanish-speaking students English. The Spanish-speaking children are students who would otherwise participate in the school’s English-language learners program, Nadal said.

“Our district has an achievement gap between some of our minorities and our white or Caucasian kids,” he said. “This should help close the achievement gap for some of those kids.”

Read more here.

St. Paul plans shift in public schools

Long-range plan includes closing some schools, opening others and ending citywide transportation.

The registration for the (new) Early Mandarin-English Bilingual (Chinese Immersion) Program at the John Norquay Elementary School 4710 Slocan St. Vancouver, BC, V5R 2A1 Canada, Phone: (604) 713-4666, Fax: (604) 713-4668 for the K and 1st Grade, school year 2011/2012 will end on Jan 31, 2011!
more information at http://www.vsb.bc.ca/programs/mandarin-bilingual

East Bay Mandarin Immersion Charter School is accepting applications

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Yu Ming Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school which will open in Fall 2011 in the East Bay.

Yu Ming Charter School (www.yumingschool.org) is accepting applications for kindergarten and first grade classes for the

inaugural 2011-2012 academic year. The application deadline is February 10, 2011.

The school is conducting information sessions for interested parents.  Attendance at one information session is strongly encouraged to learn about our unique immersion approach.

Information Sessions:

– Jan 28 (Fri) 6-8 pm, Marina Community Center, 15301 Wicks Blvd, San Leandro

– Feb 3 (Thu) 6-7:30 pm, West Oakland Public Library, 1801 Adeline St, Oakland

For more information on the enrollment process, please visit http://www.yumingschool.org/enrollment/application-process/

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For School Listing https://miparentscouncil.org/schools/

Yu Ming Charter School

URL: http://www.yumingschool.org

Grades K-8, East Bay CA (Alameda County; location TBD)

Yu Ming Charter School is the Bay Area’s first Mandarin immersion public charter school.

Yu Ming Charter School’s mission is to:

* Provide an academically rigorous college preparatory program (K-8)

* Graduate bilingual and biliterate students via two-way dual immersion in Mandarin Chinese and English

* Nurture intellectual curiosity and international perspective

* Develop young people with compassion, moral character, and a sense of responsibility for the community and environment.

(more…)

Cambridge’s MLK School to introduce Mandarin immersion program

By Todd R Nicholls

Wicked Local Cambridge

Posted Dec 22, 2010 @ 05:24 AM

Cambridge —

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School on Putnam Avenue will become the first public school in New England to operate a Mandarin Chinese immersion program when the initiative is introduced in September 2011.

The program, which was unanimously approved by the Cambridge Public School Committee, will give incoming junior and senior kindergarten students the opportunity to be educated in Chinese as well as the English language until high school.

The option to choose the program, which will be open from the first cycle of kindergarten registration in January 2011, follows a number of other immersion schemes in Cambridge public schools, including the Amigos Elementary School (Spanish).

According to project coordinator Vivian Tam, the scheme’s introduction at King is a reflection of changes taking place throughout schools in the United States.

“The school has developed the program because raising a bilingual child has become increasing important,” she said. “We now live in a global world and students who are bilingual will be better-equipped to handle these new challenges that exist.”

King has run a Chinese program as an extension of its other programs for the past 15 years. Tam believes, however, that the introduction of a well-structured immersion program at the school will be particularly beneficial for participating students.

Read more here.

Sasha Obama Speaks Chinese with President Hu Jinato

January 21, 2011

(CBS) President Barack Obama’s daughter Sasha, 9, is learning Chinese in
school. And like any encouraging dad, the president helped her find
opportunities to hone her skills.

This week, the 9-year-old had the chance to practice her phrases with
Hu Jintao, the Chinese president.

According to Reuters, a White House official disclosed the language
“practice” on Thursday after a formal state dinner in Hu’s honor.

Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, noted
President Obama has said his daughter was studying Chinese in her class.

“She’s under 10 years old and they’re studying Chinese, and she wanted
to have the chance to practice her Chinese with President Hu,” Rhodes
said.

Sasha attended Hu’s welcoming ceremony Wednesday on the White House lawn
and was able to speak with the state visitor.

Rhodes said, “Not every (child) has the opportunity to try out their
first phrases of Chinese with the president of China, but she had that
chance.”