| Making friends through Mandarin in San Mateo | ||
| January 25, 2011, 03:36 AM By Heather Murtagh Daily Journal Staff | ||
Holding hands, children partnered up and went to look for lunch cards together at College Park Elementary School in San Mateo Monday afternoon. Talking with one another was a bit difficult for the students. There was a language barrier in play. While students at College Park participate in a Mandarin Immersion Program, they aren’t fluent by second grade. Nor were the 40 elementary students, ages 9 to 12, visiting from Beijing, China fluent in English. Despite this, the pairs found their way through the cafeteria picking up a corn dog with potato wedges, an orange and milk. It was just one of the activities Monday that the students in the Happy Angel Chorus of Yi Shi Fu Xiao experienced during a typical American school day in San Mateo. The group arrived in the United States last week and are traveling to various locations. They stopped in at College Park where a friend of Yi Shi Fu Xiao Vice Principal Di Yongjie works as a teacher. Principal Diana Hallock described it as a great opportunity for her students to make new friends with whom to practice Mandarin.
more here. |
Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education
recent posts
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First Mandarin Immersion Public Charter School Opening in East Bay
By Chrissy Schwinn– January 25, 2011Posted in: Bay Area, Education, In the Classroom, News
Yu Ming Charter School, the East Bay’s first Mandarin immersion public charter school, is now holding information sessions and accepting applications for fall 2011 enrollment of kindergartners and first graders.
Located in Alameda County and open to all California residents, Yu Ming fills a huge unmet need and interest for Chinese language instruction in the greater Bay Area. The school will provide a rigorous, comprehensive, and college-preparatory education and teach students from kindergarten to 8th grade to be fully bilingual in Mandarin Chinese and English. Because it is a public charter school, there are no tuition fees. The Alameda County Board of Education unanimously approved Yu Ming’s charter in November 2010.
Gloria Lee, one of the founding parents of Yu Ming Charter School. Photo by Mike Solidum.
“We live in Oakland and searched many years for a public program in our area that would help our kids become bilingual in Mandarin and English,” said Gloria Lee, an Oakland mother, educator, and chair of the Yu Ming Charter School board. “But there just weren’t any. Now that Yu Ming is opening, we are so excited that our kids will have the chance to learn in a Mandarin immersion environment.”
Information sessions are running throughout January and enrollment applications are due Feb. 10. For a schedule and more information, visit the school’s website at www.yumingschool.org.
read more here.
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“Nihao, Hou Laoshi!”
The Best Moment for a Chinese Guest Teacher
By Amanda Yan HouIn 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
By Marissa Harshman
Columbian Staff ReporterWednesday, January 12, 2011
More like this
Kindergartners learn quickly in Vancouver schools’ new Mandarin immersion program
Evergreen school district offers tours of schools
At many ‘failing’ schools, parents have choices
Public meetings
■ What: Evergreen Public Schools will have informational meetings about the new dual-language immersion program.
■ When: The meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 20; 10 a.m. Jan. 21; 7 p.m. Feb. 10; and 10 a.m. Feb 12.
■ Where: Marrion Elementary School, 10119 N.E. 14th St.
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.
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The St. Paul, Minn, school district, home to Ying Hua, the first Mandarin immersion charter school in the US, is making some changes. The article below (click on the link) refers to a focus on Mandarin, but they don’t say what that means. Any anyone from St. Paul enlighten us as to what’s going on?
Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune
Students headed for buses and home after a day at Central High School in St. Paul. A four-year consolidation plan, if approved by the city’s Board of Education, will phase out 16 magnet programs and close two elementary schools. Central High could be one of several high schools to become a community school.
St. Paul plans shift in public schools
Long-range plan includes closing some schools, opening others and ending citywide transportation.
By DAAREL BURNETTE II, Star Tribune
Last update: January 11, 2011 – 9:47 PM
A sweeping plan to remake St. Paul Public Schools would rely more on neighborhood schools and less on buses to ensure racial diversity and boost the achievement of all students.
St. Paul Superintendent Valeria Silva unveiled the new system Tuesday, saying her goal is to save money and narrow the achievement gap between white students and students of color.
“Diminishing funding is our new normal,” Silva said.
The plan, if approved by the school board, will end citywide transportation for a majority of its 38,000 students, combine dozens of duplicated programs, close two elementary programs, co-locate four others and, within the next four years, end 16 of the district’s 36 magnet programs. More than half of its high schools will become community schools, drawing most of their students from the surrounding neighborhoods.
More here.
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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.
