Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Wow, check out Mandarin in Edmonton, Canada

    I had no idea their program was so big, and so well-established. They have 12 schools involved, from elementary to high school. They started  in 1982, just a year after the Chinese American International School in San Francisco. I believe this makes them the oldest on-going Mandarin immersion public system in North America.

    From their website:

    At the elementary level (Grades 1 to 6), the subjects taught in English are: English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. Subjects taught in Chinese are: Chinese Language Arts, Mathematics, Art, Health, and Physical Education. Music may be taught in both languages.

    Chinese Language Arts is an optional course at the Junior High (Grades 7 to 9) and Senior High (Grades 10 to 12) levels designed to improve listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Chinese with emphasis on conversational skills. Studies include a variety of short stories, novels, plays, and poetry. Art and cultural activities are also included. Computer skills in Chinese word processing are practiced when possible. Chinese Language Arts carries the same credits as other optional courses.

    Chinese Language Arts at the Senior High level meet the language requirements of the International Baccalaureate (I.B.) Program of studies. Students who wish to write the I.B. Exam in Grade 12 will have that option. This course may also be taken as an option for credit towards a High School Diploma and may be accepted for entrance requirements at post-secondary institutions.

    Very impressive.It also looks as if their parent organization, the Edmonton Chinese Bilingual Education Assoc., is really strong and supportive. Check out their web site here.

    We’d love to hear from anyone in Edmonton about the program, how it works and how it’s progressed. And because you’ve got K – 12 students, we’re very interested (always) in what reading material your upper grade students like.

  • Parent group working to push for Mandarin in B.C.

    Of course our friends up in Canada have a different school system to contend with (and decades of strong immersion programs in French and English to point to) but it’s still interesting for folks in the United States to look at how parents can organize to push for Mandarin immersion in their schools.

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    http://www.mandarinforbcschools.org/

    Welcome to MandarinForBCSchools.org! This website was created by parents for parents to share information about bilingualism and to help bring a K-12 Mandarin bilingual education program to our public school system.  We are presently three parent groups, located in North and West Vancouver, Vancouver, Tri-Cities, Burnaby and Richmond.  If you would like to give your child the gift of bilingualism, join us!

    You can see their meet up page here.

  • Mandarin comes to Los Angeles

    A nice story from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism about Mandarin in Los Angeles.

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    From Chinatown to China: Learning world languages in L.A. schools
    Contributor

    By Jacquie Levy

    imageSeated in a folding chair in the middle of Chinatown’s historic West Plaza, seven-year-old Aidan Garner’s short legs dangled his little feet above the ground as a concentrated expression washed over his face. He dipped a calligraphy brush almost as long as his whole arm into a bowl of black paint, and meticulously copied a series of connected lines from the paper beside him onto the newspaper in front of him. As an American-born, second-grade student, Garner had just done something that most American adults will never be able to do: he had written the Mandarin Chinese character for ‘moon cake’. As his mother looked proudly over his shoulder smiling, Garner declared, “I’m writing Chinese, it’s fun and easy!”

    On that particular Saturday evening in Chinatown, the smell of Chinese food was especially strong and the clamor of voices was exceedingly loud. A diverse crowd of all ages and ethnicities from all over Los Angeles came to experience the 72nd annual Chinese celebration of the new autumn harvest moon, known as the Mid Town Moon Festival. While there were lots of exciting, kid-friendly activities like performances by Shaolin warriors and contortionists, Chinese cooking demonstrations, zodiac face painting, craft tables and ping-pong contests, many children were drawn to a more subdued activity: the Mandarin calligraphy workshop hosted by the UCLA Confucius Institute.

    A young volunteer at the station who referred to himself as “the white guy who speaks Chinese,” enticed curious children and adults with the simple question, “Wanna give it a try?” Intrigued by the challenge, participants sat down at the U-shaped setup of folding tables that was scattered with newspapers, paint, and pictures of Chinese words commonly associated with the Moon Festival. George Yu, the Executive Director of Chinatown’s Business Improvement District, watched his 13-year-old daughter Elizabeth Yu and her 12-year-old friend Felicia Hano receive some personal Mandarin instruction from Qin Huang, a petite and expressive Confucius Institute volunteer, who also teaches Mandarin at a local middle school.
    Read more, including stuff about the two immersion elementary schools in Los Angeles, here.

  • Helpful links from the Asia Society

    From the Asia Society’s latest newsletter:

    Asia Society has identified and networked some of the strongest Chinese language programs across the country – and is bringing their best practices to you.

    Confucius Classrooms

    How to start a Chinese language program.

    Find online resources to build stronger programs.

    Get involved! Support language learning in the United States.

    Learn more about the Confucius Classrooms Network.

  • Parents Debating Mandarin in New York City

    Note that this debate is not about immersion, but about a class or two a week in elementary school.  Clearly, kids in immersion actually learn to understand and speak Mandarin quickly (reading and writing, of course, take longer).  But interesting that Mandarin’s so popular these days that schools are adding an hour a week in elementary school.
    From the Wall Street Journal’s New York section, read the full posting here.
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    Julie Platner for The Wall Street Journal
    Sam Benenson, a second grader at NEST+m on the Lower East Side, colors a map to learn the pronunciation and geography of China’s biggest cities.

    By Yuliya Chernova

    The growth of Mandarin classes at elementary schools in and around New York City stirred debate at UrbanBaby.com, a popular forum website for parents.

    As The Journal reported, more schools around the city this year started offering — and in some cases requiring — Mandarin instruction, including New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math (known as NEST+m), PS 20 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and PS 310 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The rise of Mandarin stems, in part, from separate programs backed by the U.S. and Chinese governments that offer resources for the classes.

  • NanHai starts Scholastic Books-like Chinese book club

    NanHai books, in California, has started a Scholastic-like program where they send a two-page catalog of Chinese books to teachers at immersion and heritage programs, and then the students order through their classroom. The latest one is all simplified character books. These are appropriate for kids up to 5th grade or so.

    For more information, check out NanHai Bookstore.

    iRead_2010 Fall

  • Alameda Co. (Calif.) Mandarin immersion meeting Sept. 28

    Yu Ming Mandarin Immersion Charter School is targeted to open in the fall of 2011 with initial kindergarten and first grade classes. We are focused on growing the whole child physically, culturally, morally and academically. Our program is anchored on a two-way dual immersion program in which students serve as language models for each other.

    Our children need skills such as cultural awareness, second language skills, creativity and critical thinking to effectively contribute to our 21st century global community.

    Please come learn more about Yu Ming at upcoming events:

    Information night. Sept 28th at 6:30pm at the Carmen Flores Recreation Center, 1637 Fruitvale Ave in Oakland. Presentation to be delivered in Spanish and English.

    Information night. October 8th at 6:30pm at the Trinity Lutheran Church
    1225 Hopyard Rd in Pleasanton.

    Public Hearing – a chance for you to voice your support. October 12th at 10am at Alameda County Office of Education at 313 W. Winton Ave in Hayward.

    More info: http://www.yumingschool.org

    Thanks!