ScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2009) In another “Freakonomics”-style study that turns conventional wisdom about public- versus private-school education on its head, a team of University of Illinois education professors has found that public-school students outperform their private-school classmates on standardized math tests, thanks to two key factors: certified math teachers, and a modern, reform-oriented math curriculum.
Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education
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Items discussed at the meeting of February 20, 2009
1) We have a website: Miparentscouncil.org
2) Summer Camps offering Mandarin
3) Mandarin Immersion Parents Council committees
4) CAIS Chinese Education Conference March 13th- 15th
5) Next Meeting: An evening with Mimi Met, March 16th , time and location TBD
6) Summer trips to ChinaWebsite
We have a website: miparentscouncil.org
The website serves as an online platform for marketing the Mandarin Immersion Programs at Starr King and Jose Ortega. Additionally, it organizes in one place a lot of information including: links and descriptions of Summer Camps offering Mandarin; video of Starr King & Jose Ortega in the Chinese New Year’s parade; descriptions and information on the committees of the Mandarin Immersions Parents Council, etc.
Summer Camps offering Mandarin
More information can be found at…
https://miparentscouncil.org/summer-camps/
Some parents shared their experiences with summer camps that offer Mandarin. We spent time discussing two camps that are offering camps this summer: Play and Learn and CAIS (Chinese American International School).
Mandarin Play and Learn is organized by Carol Lei, who played a very significant role in launching the Mandarin Immersion Programs at Starr King and Jose Ortega. The details on the camp are available online at http://www.mandarinplaylearn.com/summer_camp_09
CAIS (Chinese American International School) is offering two, four-week sessions. CAIS is considering a special program for SFUSD Mandarin immersion students. They are seeking a grant that would help fund the special program and need to know how much demand there is for a special program. The details on the camp are available online at
http://www.cais.org/en/auxiliary/mandarin-camp/summer2009
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council committees
Marketing
Scott Olson is the chairperson. He created the website Miparentscouncil.org and is looking for content for the website. Scott and Chris Chang are working on getting the website translated in to Chinese.
Teacher Recruitment & Retention
Monika Liston Jo is the chairperson. She described some of the historical challenges in hiring Mandarin speaking teachers in the SFUSD. Additionally, she shared that a Chinese Learning Specialist is scheduled to start as an aide to both Starr King and Jose Ortega. The specialist will spend 3 days/week at Starr King and 2 days/week at Jose Ortega.
Middle School
This committee needs a chairperson. If you want to lead this important committee, please contact Beth Weise or Scott Olson. Several people have indicated an interest to help on this committee, but we need someone to be chairperson.
CAIS Chinese Education Conference March 13th- 15th
CAIS is hosting the Chinese Education Conference in San Francisco. This is the largest K-16 national conference dedicated to promoting Chinese education in the United States. On Saturday evening, there is a networking reception with teachers and administrators. If you are interested in attending, contact Kellyn as she may be able to get you a ticket.
Next Meeting: An evening with Mimi Met, March 16th
Dr. Myriam Met is Acting Director of the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. Plans are not yet finalized, but the thought is that she will be giving a talk on foreign language education. This meeting will be for all of SFUSD participants and not just Mandarin Immersion. Location and time are TBD.
Summer trips to China
Kellyn Dong described two separate trips that are being organized for traveling to China this summer. One trip is for three weeks, with two weeks being spent in Wuhan. The second trip is being organized as a two-week trip for families with adopted children. If you are interested, please feel free to contact Kellyn for details.
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Christopher Rosenberg, Aka Principal Rosenberg
Chris Rosenberg Mr. Rosenberg was a teacher at Starr King for eight years before becoming its principal five years ago, in 2003. He speaks English and Spanish and has learned to sing Happy Birthday in Chinese. He ably guides Starr King’s four strands — English, Spanish bilingual, Mandarin immersion and Special Education.
“I like helping kids construct meaning.”Li Berkley, Aka Cong Laoshi
Li Berkeley Kindergarten teacher, Room 107 substitute while Ms. Chang is on maternity leave this spring.
Ms. Berkley is originally from Beijing, China. She taught at elementary schools in China and was a professor of Chinese and English at the North China Coal Mining Medical College. She has taught in the San Francisco Bay area for five years, most recently in the Vallejo Unified School District. She will be filling in for Ms. Chang in Room 207 during Ms. Chang’s maternity leave.
Esther Chau, Aka Zhou Laoshi
Esther Chau Second grade, Room 211
Ms. Chau is from Taipei in Taiwan. She has been a teacher for 12 years. She has taught in both private and public high schools, as well as teaching at two charter schools in the Bay area. In addition, she owned a learning center that offered science, math, art and Mandarin enrichment. This is her first year at Starr King.
“Teaching really fulfills me. I can use it to help kids, especially because Mandarin is difficult so learning it is a big accomplishment. I take education very seriously. I have a passion for education and teaching, as a way to reach out to many children.”
“I love children. I’d like to touch their lives, It’s a chance to touch the future.”Sandy Sung, Aka Sung Laoshi
Sandy Sung Room 109, Starr King 1st grade teacher
Ms. Sung is from Taipei, Taiwan. She came to the United States 15 years ago and taught in Los Angeles before coming to Starr King as a Mandarin immersion teacher in 2007. She has been a teacher for seven years, teaching both Chinese and piano. In Los Angeles she taught at Hacienda La Puerta school.
“Teaching is so wonderful because you help the children and you get to . see the light bulb turn on in their head! And we learn so much from each other every day.”Ina To, Aka To Laoshi
Ina To Room 105
Ms. To is originally from Hong Kong. She has been in the United States for 18 years, 13 as an elementary school teacher. She went to college and got her teaching certificate in New York City and then came to the Bay area.
“Children are so open-hearted!” she says of her students.Helen Tong, Aka Tong Laoshi
Helen Tong Room 109
Ms. Tong is originally from Canton, China. She speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin. This is her fourth year of teaching. Her first year in the San Francisco Unified School District was teaching at Alice Fong Yu Elementary, the Cantonese immersion school. She came to Starr King in 2007.
She loves teaching “because every day is something new. It’s so fun when the kids are trying to express themselves in Mandarin.Angelica Chang aka Chang Laoshi
Starr King, Kindergarten teacher, Room 107Ms. Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She’s been a teacher for ten years, three at Starr King in the Mandarin immersion program. She began by volunteering a San Francisco Saturday Chinese school. She got her teaching credential and B-CLAD four years ago.
“I like everything about teaching. I was making a big tooth as a prop for class one day and I turned to my husband and I said ‘I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this!’” -
If your child is participating in the Chinese Language Bridge Cup, then you may know that the required poem for grades K-2 is “The Song of the Traveling Son 游子吟” by Mèng Jiāo 孟郊”. You can get some tips for reciting this poem from The King…
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The San Francisco Mandarin Immersion Parents Council will be meeting on Friday, February 20, 2009 from 5:30 to 7:30.
Where
Starr King Elementary School
Bungalow B (in the playground)
Childcare
Childcare and dinner for children provided via a generous grant from
the Mayor’s OfficeAgenda
Summer Activities
How do you keep you kid’s Chinese up over the summer? We’ll have representatives from at least summer camp programs that offer Mandarin, including the Chinese American School and Mandarin Play and Learn.
Chinese Language Conference
Chinese Language conference being held in SF March 13-15
Committee Updates
- Update on the MIPC’s work with the district on teacher hiring
- Middle school
- How to get involved in the MIPC
Advocates for Multilingual Education
Update on the activities of this group
Meet and Greet
We’ll include time to socialize, we promise!
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Stacey Leyton (A Starr King Mandarin immersion parent) was looking to find where our public school Mandarin immersion children live in San Francisco.
The school district does not have the data organized by program, so she asked them to map the kids who are enrolled in the relevant grades at Starr King and Jose Ortega. In other words, she asked for a map of kindergargen through second grade Starr King children, and kindergarten through first grade Jose Ortega children. Each dot on the map represents a student.
Stacey apparently has good contacts because she was able to get the following excellent information…
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Jose Ortega and Starr King students got the chance to participate in the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade on Feb 7, 2009. Here are some videos.
Jose Ortega Elementary:
Starr King Elementary:
