sorry for getting this up late. I expect the Target gift card is gone, but  the parent group is still there.

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Dear Parents,

As the world becomes more interconnected, foreign language immersion education in the United States is growing accordingly. Immersion programs are designed to enrich the education of native English speaking students by teaching their academic subjects in a second language. Immersion programs aim to attain proficiency in a second language and cultural awareness while reaching high academic achievement.

As parents of young children in the East Bay, we are excited to be in the process of developing more foreign language immersion options for our children and yours. Please help us to learn more about your interest in foreign language immersion, particularly
Mandarin Chinese, by completing our short, 5-minute survey at the link below. If you complete the survey by March 10th and provide your contact information and email, you can be entered to receive a $100 gift card to Target.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mandarinimmersion

Please feel free to forward this survey to parents in the Bay Area that might be interested in participating.

Thank you in advance for your time in furthering the educational options available to children in the East Bay.

Yew Chung International School‘s (YCIS) annual Book Fair featuring books in both Chinese and English is coming up
soon on Thursday, Mar 25 and Friday, Mar 26!

YCIS Auditorium
310 Easy St, Mountain View

Hours:
Thursday, Mar 25 11AM – 7PM – open to parents and the public!
Friday, Mar 26 9AM – 7PM – open to parents and the public!

Over 900 Chinese books are featured and include a selection of Simplified vs
Traditional Characters, Pinyin, Zhuyin and Bilingual (Chinese/English) books.
Many of the books include supplemental CDs and there is also a selection of
Chinese DVDs that are appropriate for all ages. These books are sourced directly
from wholesalers who provide these titles to school and libraries around the Bay
Area.

Not sure what books are best for you? YCIS Chinese teachers will be available on
Thursday afternoon from 2:45-4pm to consult and assist with book selection. Join
us on Friday morning for complimentary coffee and coffee cake. A children’s
activity table will also be available to entertain your children while you
browse the fair.

Bring your checkbooks! Chinese books may only be purchased with cash or check.
English books through Scholastic can be purchased with cash, check or credit
card. All the money raised from this fair goes directly back into the YCIS
library and classrooms.

Click here to see a nifty graphic showing enrollment trends since the Mandarin immersion programs began at both schools.This year, demand for Jose Ortega surpassed Starr King, even though Starr King’s program is larger and a year older.

2010-2011 Enrollment Request Comparison Chart

Setting Up Windows XP for Mandarin Input

http://bit.ly/Chinese-PC

Chinese in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

http://bit.ly/Chinese-Mac

Excellent online Chinese Dictionary with stroke order and pronunciation

http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/chinese-dictionary.php

Astoundingly good online translation tool:

http://translate.google.com/

California is facing a major budget crunch for next year. On Friday thousands of parents, teachers and students marched in San Francisco to call attention to the need for school funding. Many Starr King families attended.

See a parent video here.