And they’re looking for a principal….

YU MING CHARTER SCHOOL WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED. Now, we are searching for a founding principal.

Overview
New Mandarin immersion public charter school in the San Francisco Bay Area seeks an experienced and entrepreneurial leader to head an academically rigorous K-8 program that graduates students who are bilingual, biliterate and bicultural. Yu Ming Charter School was unanimously approved by the Alameda County Office (ACOE) Board of Education and will open in Fall 2011 with students in grades K-1.

Job Responsibilities
The Founding Principal will design and lead all aspects of the school’s education program and operations:
Provide instructional leadership: select curriculum, assessments, and instructional practices to meet the school’s education goals; provide training and coaching to teachers; guide implementation of the education design.
Select, develop, and direct staff, including educators and administrative support.
Manage all resources of the school: maintain a balanced budget; plan for future needs.
Develop a vibrant, collaborative school community.
Oversee daily operations of the school: ensure school is fully enrolled and fully staffed; maintain safe, secure, and well-functioning facility; establish daily schedule and school year calendar; comply with federal, state and ACOE standards, regulations and documentation requirements.
Work closely with Board of Directors to govern the school responsibly.

Qualifications
Bilingual and bi-literate in both Mandarin Chinese and English
Proven track record in achieving academic results
Demonstrated commitment to fostering a dynamic and academically rigorous education program
Expertise in curriculum development and program design related to dual-immersion and Mandarin language development
Knowledge of formative assessment of student progress and use of data to inform classroom practice
Ability to attract, select, and develop highly effective teachers
Experience with school finance and operations, including knowledge of Education Code
Entrepreneurial passion; the ability to thrive in the excitement and ambiguity of a start-up environment
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Superb interpersonal skills; ability to work collaboratively with individuals from a variety of backgrounds
Excellent organizational, time management, and multi-tasking skills
Legal authorization to work in the United States

Minimum educational level: Bachelor’s degree; Masters or Ph.D. in relevant area preferred

Experience preferred
4+ years professional teaching experience, preferably in immersion or foreign language
1+ years professional experience as a school administrator or entrepreneurial leader

Compensation and Benefits: Salary commensurate with experience. Comprehensive benefits package offered for employee and dependents.

Contact: Please submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@yumingschool.org by December 24, 2010.

__._,_.___

From the Vancouver Sun in British Columbia, Canada.

====

B.C. needs more Mandarin immersion classes, prof says

By Graeme Wood, With A File From Janet Steffenhagen, Special To The Sun

If B.C. truly wants to be a “gateway” for business with China, it will have to invest in more Chinese-language classes from kindergarten to university, says the head of the department of Asian studies at the University of B.C.

“We live in a province that is heavily oriented toward Asia in business ties, but the reality on the ground in terms of investments, so citizens of B.C. know something about Asia, is essentially a generation behind,” Ross King said.

King said B.C. should have a robust immersion program in Mandarin — a “pipeline” from kindergarten to university — to keep pace with developing cultural and business ties with China.

He said B.C. has done well over the last decade to build the “hardware” for business with China such as expanding port facilities, but has done nothing to develop its “software,” such as training British Columbians who can work proficiently in both Mandarin and English.

The education ministry said recently it is up to individual school boards to build their own Chinese immersion programs. King said this policy has to change.

“It’s fairly laissez-faire from the bottom up, but you need it from the top down as well,” he said.

There are only a handful of schools in Metro Vancouver that offer Mandarin classes to elementary school children but only one — Walton elementary in Coquitlam — is an immersion-style program, and it is offered only in kindergarten and Grade 1.

Read more here.

Selected One-Way Language Immersion Bibliography

There’s the link to the bibliography.

A nice story about Los Angeles’ second Mandarin immersion school, new this year, from our friends over at the Mandarin Institute (formerly the CAIS Institute.)

Broadway Elementary Launches Mandarin Immersion Program Despite Challenges

By Susan Wang, Principal of Broadway Elementary School

With much anticipation, Broadway Elementary School (K-6) launched a Mandarin Immersion Program this fall with 44 kindergarten students. As a Los Angeles Unified School District Principal, I have been working with a group of interested parents since fall of 2009 to make this happen. After about 2 months, most students in our immersion program have gotten over the initial shock of not being able to understand one of their teachers for half the day and have adjusted to both the Chinese language and the new routines.

Read more at The Mandarin Institute

At English-Mandarin Public School, High Test Scores, but Also Strife

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

The Shuang Wen Academy on the Lower East Side received straight A’s on its city report card this year, but parents are in conflict.

By SHARON OTTERMAN

Published: November 1, 2010

Twelve years later, the school, on the Lower East Side, which runs from prekindergarten to eighth grade and has an enrollment of 660, boasts outstanding scores on standardized tests but is in turmoil.

The school is the target of nine city investigations stemming from allegations that it compelled families to pay for after-school instruction, tampered with the city enrollment process, mismanaged its finances and manipulated surveys on parents’ satisfaction with the school. In addition, a series of anonymous, threatening letters directed at the principal and parent leaders prompted the parents association to budget $20,000 for legal assistance and stepped-up security.

The parents association and other supporters say a few disgruntled parents are responsible both for the allegations, which are being investigated by the city’s Department of Education and by Richard J. Condon, the special commissioner of investigation for the school system, and for the threats.

Please read more here.

A parent passed along this camp info in China. Does anyone have any experience with it? The MIPC always gets lots of inquiries about summer camps in China but thus far we haven’t heard much from parents with actual experience sending their kids. If you’ve had a child at this or any other camp in China or Taiwan or Singapore, or if you know someone who has, please comment and tell us how it went. It’s a real need, but we also know that parents are cautious of sending their kids halfway across the world to an unknown.

===

BLCU Chinese Summer Camp Invitation 北京語言大學青少年?

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: summercamp richblcu.summercamp <richblcu.summercamp@gmail.com>
Date: 2010/10/27
Subject: BLCU Chinese Summer Camp Invitation 北京語言大學青少年中文夏令營邀請函

Dear Sir or Madam,

Good morning, this is Summer from *Beijing Language and Culture University
(BLCU)*, I am writing this letter to introduce our Chinese summer camp
program for teenagers and *would like to invite your esteemed school to
participate in this program.*

* *

*BLCU* is the *only international university in China* *with its main task
set at teaching the Chinese language and culture to foreign students since
1962*. *RICH&BLCU* Summer Camp was first hold in 2002, for the past 8 years
there are more than 1,000 students from different countries joined us. We
provide a brand new learning style for teenagers worldwide. Students can
easily improve their Chinese as well as experience Chinese culture while
having fun with new friends from all around the world and have a perfect
vacation here in China with us!

This year we have rearrange the Chinese course with different subjects.
Students will be placed into *groups with different theme*, for the year of
2011, there will be 4 themes, *AP program* (advanced placement); *IB program
* (International Baccalaureate); *HSK *(Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi); *General
Chinese language* (Chinese culture related). They will accept level
assessment on the first day of the camp. *I learned that there is Chinese
subject in your school*, so I think it will be a great fit.

For the year of 2010, there were* 132 students from Hongkong, USA, France,
Spain, Denmark, Canada, Greek, etc. joined in this program, *they’ve enjoyed
a wonderful 3-weeks camp here, *We would be very glad to have your
participation next year in Beijing!*

* *

*The following 2 ways are the initial adoptions for our cooperation, *

*1: recommend us students and get commission.*

*2: be a Group(more than 15) students and get a group price.*

For more details and pictures, please see this website:
http://www.richblcu.com/Learn.asp?JJ_id=15<http://www.richblcu.com/Learn.asp?JJ_id=15&gt;,
attached you can also find the brochure and sample schedule. If there is any
question, please feel free to *contact me at summer@richblcu.com or
+86-13911170039.*

RICH Camp Schedule.pdf

Click to access RICH+Camp+Schedule.pdf

Looking forward to your write back, have a nice day!

您好, 我是北京语言大学的工作人员summer, *我**希望**邀**请**您的学生参加我**们**的**RICH&BLCU**青少年中文夏令**营*
*。*北京語言大學是教育部直屬、國內唯一一所以對來華留學生進行漢語和中國文化教育為主要任務的國際型大學，作為語言類重點大學，在中外語言教育領域享有盛譽。

*RICH**中文夏令營計畫致力於為母語非中文的各國青少年強化中文水平*，為各國青少年及廣大華裔子女提供邊學習邊遊玩的新暑期體驗。讓他們解中國，
體驗當地風土人情，廣泛結交朋友，學習中文及中國文化.RICH中文夏令營自2002年起開辦以來，組織了數千名來自世界各地的青少年學習中文、體驗中國文化。*
2010**年**，**我**们**成功接待了来自香港、美国、法国、西班牙、加拿大、丹麦、希腊等国的**132**名学生。**并且非常期待您在**
2011**年的参与**！*

2011年，我們將把夏令營的中文課程分為4個不同主題小組，分別是：*IB**中文課程小組**；**AP**中文課程小組**；**HSK**課程小組**；
**日常中文課程小組*。學生可根據自己的需求選擇課程小組並在開營第一天接受水準測試劃分級別。*我瞭解到貴校也**開設了中文課程**，**
我們的夏令營課程將會非常適合。***

*以下是**2**種我們初期的合作模式選擇**：*

*1**：**為我們推薦學生並獲得傭金。*

*2**：**組成學生團隊參加項目**（**不少於**15**人**）**從而享受團隊價格**。*

更多細節和照片請參考網頁及附件:
http://www.richblcu.com/Learn.asp?JJ_id=15<http://www.richblcu.com/Learn.asp?JJ_id=15&gt;
,如有任何問題請隨時與我聯繫：*summer@richblcu.com* <summer@richblcu.com>* or
+86-13911170039.*

* *

Best Regards,

Summer

—
RICH Chinese Summer Camp
RICH&BLCU
Tel: +8610-65828984, 65389957
Email: summer@richblcu.com
Website: http://www.richblcu.com