Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education
STARTALK Summer Mandarin Academy at San Francisco State University extends an invitation to current 4th-7th graders to join a fun and innovative 4-week summer program to develop their Chinese proficiency. More information and application can be found at http://userwww. sfsu.edu/ ~stlearn/.
This sounds like an amazing program. They read comic books, watch Chinese videos, learn pop songs, become totally immersed in Chinese culture – and become much more fluent – but have a great time doing so.
Sunday, May 23, 2-5pm
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House
953 deHaro Street
Suggested Donation: $10 adults, kids are free
Food! Fun!
Entertainment! Kids Activities
Silent Auction Items:
*Museums and Family Entertainment:
Disneyland, Great America, Gilroy Gardens
De Young/Legion of Honor Museums,
Asian Art Museum, SF Symphony,
House at Incline Village, NV.,
Chinatown Alleyway Tour
*Dining:
Soup of the month club,
Dinner of the month club,
Dinner parties, Liberty Cafe,
Pacific Catch Restaurant, Progressive Grounds Cafe,
Wine and Cheese AG Ferrari Wine & Cheese Tasting,
24th Street Cheese Company, Venga Empanadas
*Kids
Recess Urban, My Gym,
Shan-Yee Poon Ballet,
Wheel Kids, Project Commotion,
Kids’ CDs from Charity and the Jam Band and Laurie Berkner
*Plus Art, Jewelry, Massages, Hotel Packages and much more!
RAFFLE:
Grand prize: Playstation 3 plus games
1st prize: barbeque grill
<http://bbq-grill. wowshopper. com/htm-pages/ charcoal- grill-6000. htm>
2nd prizes: Storypeople art print, Highlights subscription, grown-up
and kids’ books, DVDs, games
3rd prizes: gift certificates to Bed, Bath&Beyond, Books Inc, and more.
FREMONT — Wei-Lin Tong remembers speaking only Cantonese at home during her early years, but as soon as her older brother went to kindergarten, the kids switched to speaking English full time.
Tong and other Fremont parents are pushing for the school district to start a Mandarin-English immersion program, similar to its Spanish-English program.
Students would start out speaking Mandarin 90 percent of the time and English the remainder of the day in kindergarten. By fifth grade, the school day would be equally split between Mandarin and English.
read more here.
The Asia Society posted this excellent video that promotes the value of Chinese in American schools.
5Q Channel is a Mandarin reading web site based in Taiwan that was created to use computer animation to put classic Chinese stories into a form that kids would want to watch, listen to and read, all in Mandarin. Funded in part by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, it aims to give students all over the world access to the story-telling tradition of China in a cartoon animated format that modern children love – and helping them read Chinese while they’re at it.
Last week a group of parents and teachers from Starr King and Jose Ortega elementary schools met with the creators of 5Q Channel, as they were in town to present at the Chinese Education Conference in San Francisco.
Mr. Tseng Jr-Shi, the general manager for the company that created the site, Lu Feng Technology, gave us an introduction to what our kids could find there.
It’s pretty cool. There are also over 350 individuals stories that students from Kindergarten on up will enjoy watching. The topics include everything from classic Chinese stories such as the Journey to the West and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms to funny stories explaining the sometimes maddeningly confusing four-character sayings. These are part of any well-educated Chinese person’s daily speech, but you have to know the stories to know what they mean. I like that 5Q channel understood that kids wouldn’t know or care about classical allusions, so they’ve done cartoons illustrating them in modern settings.
Mostly it’s a closed site (no worries your child will click over into something you don’t want them seeing) where they can read along as they watch the story. You can set it for traditional or simplified characters, or English if you want to figure out what they’re looking at. The parents who attended the presentation were intrigued and of the 24 who’ve signed up so far, most report their kids are enjoying watching the cartoons – one more chance to tuck a little Mandarin-time into their day.
The Mandarin Immersion Parents Council negotiated a special yearly subscription price for the site, just $30 for one year. (We don’t make anything off it, we just liked it and offered to tell our parents about it.) However they’re only going to make it available for another two weeks. To sign up, click this link:
http://www.5qchannel.com/order/grouprate.htm
There aren’t many sites out there for Mandarin immersion students yet, so we were pleased to find this one, especially because they’re really going out of their way to make themselves useful to families where the kids read and speak Mandarin but the parents don’t. We’re sure more will be coming, but for now, this is a great place to let your kids play online and (many of us are thinking) a nice way to keep our kids’ Mandarin up during the summer months.
We’d love to hear more about how parents are using it, whether it’s helpful and what other resources you know of.
Beth
Journalists James Fallows of The Atlantic and John Pomfret of The Washington Post discuss the phenomenon that is China. Submit your questions!
Chinese Music & Arts
2010 Summer Day Camp
(For children ages from 7 to 14)
July 19 – August 27
Session I: 7/19~7/30 Chinese Classical
Music & Fine Art
Session II: 8/2~8/13 Chinese Folk Music &
Chinese Painting
Session III: 8/16~8/27 Chinese Pop Music &
Sketching
2010 Chinese Arts and Music Summer Camp is organized by a non-profit
organization Chinese Arts & Music Center (CAMC). We offer three 2-week
summer programs for kids aged from 7 to 14. CAMC instructors will guide the
campers to have hands-on experience in Chinese music & fine arts. All kids will
experience the joy of working together, playing together and performing with friends for
the community. Each Session has different focus field in music types and art forms
and will be conducted in Mandarin.
Space is limit, reserve your spot today!
Registration fee ($25/person) is waived for those who pay the deposits by June 1st, 2010.
Registration fee is also waived for ACE members, students from Starr King and Jose Ortega.
Morning extended care is available at $5/hr.
Snack will be provided, but not lunch. Students have options to bring lunch or request the camp
to order lunch from a nearby restaurant.
We offer 10% discounts of tuition for deposit paid by 5/15.
Siblings, multiple sessions-students only pay registration for one person registration fee.
Camp Type: Day Camp 10 am ~ 4 pm
Cost Per Session: $260 (2 weeks)
CAMC instructors
Ms. Gangqin Zhao (Chinese music specialist) * Ms. Zheng Bao (Experienced professional in Fine Arts)
Camp Location: 500 Balboa Street (at 6th Ave.), San Francisco, CA 94118
For inquiries, call 415-666-3001 Or email to folkmelody@gmail.com
Harp (Guzheng), Dulcimar (Yangqin),Yueqin (Moon guitar), Hulusi (Wind gourd). Never played?
This is a fun and interactive jump-start. Experienced player? Study with the best local musicians
and perform in an ensemble. The 2-weeks session is a great introduction to Chinese Music into
young camper’s busy schedule.
2010国乐艺术夏令营
CAMC
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 