The Chinese Lunar New Year is February 5th this year, though the celebration will continue for a full two weeks in China. If your children are in a Chinese immersion school, they’ll be making pig masks and learning about the Spring Festival, as it’s sometimes called, and hopefully eating some great goodies. 

Each year Jeff Bissell, headmaster of the Chinese American International School, the oldest Mandarin immersion program in the world, pens a lovely letter to the school about New Years and China. Here’s this year’s installment. Enjoy.

And 新年快乐 (Xīnnián kuàilè) from my family here in San Francisco to yours!

Beth 

[A New Year drawing from the HudsonWay Immersion School in Stirling, New York.]

In mainland China, where I lived from 1999 to 2010, school children enjoy a month long lunar New Year holiday.

Because I worked in a school during those years, I always traveled during that time. I lived in Beijing, which was home to millions of rural migrant laborers, and each year when the New Year rolled around, the migrants headed out of town—they were going home to spend the holidays with their families in small villages all over the country. I usually headed to either Yunnan or Guizhou, both mountainous provinces in the southwest, where I too would spend time in villages that bustled with the excitement of sons and daughters returned home for the holidays. In the villages, envious residents listened to the urban tales of their returned neighbors who had left their homes to work on construction sites, in restaurants, and in factories in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Dongguan, earning the equivalent of $100, $150, even $200 a month—an unimaginable amount for farmers in the mountainous villages of southwest China.

I knew that in the big cities of China these migrant laborers were members of an underclass, looked down upon by their urban countrymen who drove Toyotas, Volkswagens, or even Audis and lived in three bedroom, heated apartments. It is estimated that some 150 million rural Chinese have left their villages and moved to cities in search of work—the biggest mass movement of human beings in history. These people have fueled China’s double digit economic growth rates for the last 30-plus years. And every year, as the lunar New Year approaches, millions and millions of them cram into trains and buses, leave their city jobs behind and journey back home—the only chance they will have all year long to see their family members and friends. I imagine that these days the now digitally savvy rural transplants buy their bus and rail tickets via WeChat or Catriona apps on their smart phones. Every year the villages have more TVs, more motorcycles and more karaoke machines than the year before—all paid for with money sent back by family members laboring in China’s cities. The biggest source of cash income in most villages I visited was family members who had migrated to cities, found work, and sent their earnings home.

Homecomings were festive—village doorways had large, red paper characters pasted on them. In the center of every doorway were the characters 福 (fú “good fortune”) or 春 (chūn “springtime”) pasted upside down. When small children see the upside down characters they shout “good fortune is upside down!” or “springtime is upside down!” In Chinese, the word for “upside down” is 倒 dào. This is identical with the pronunciation of the word for “arrived” (到 dào). So the children’s cries of “Good fortune is upside down!” (福倒了 fú dào le) are identical in pronunciation to “Good fortune has arrived” (福到了fú dào le). On either side of village doors are pasted duìlián 对联 or poetic couplets, balanced seven character phrases with auspicious messages such as 八方财宝进家门，一年四季行好运 (From all directions wealth enters our door, in all four seasons of the year we have good luck) or 万事如意福临门，一帆顺风吉星到 (All things are as we wish and good fortune is at our door, everything is smooth sailing and our lucky star has arrived).

The Chinese language is rich with opportunities for wordplay, and this richness is most apparent during the New Year in rural China. In Yunnan and Guizhou, families eat glutinous rice flour cakes on the eve of the New Year. The sweet, tasty cakes are called nián gāo 年糕, whose pronunciation sounds like nián nián gāo 年年高 which means “every year is better than the last one.” Every family will eat fish on the lunar New Year’s eve, saying “every year we have fish” (nián nián yŏu yú 年年有鱼) which sounds just like 年年有余 meaning “every year we have abundance” (Su Laoshi’s second grade class shouted this to me in the hallway on their way to recess Tuesday morning). In the north of China people eat dumplings or jiăozi 饺子 on New Year’s Eve, not only because they are delicious, but because they also illustrate yet another clever play on words. Historically in China, each day was divided into twelve separate two-hour periods or watches. The period from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. was called 子时 or zĭ shí. On New Year’s Eve as midnight approached the time changed to zĭ shí. The term jiăozi nián 饺子 or dumpling has a similar pronunciation with jiāozĭ 交子 which means that time has entered the two hour period of zĭ shí—when the day changes from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day.

I always felt very fortunate to be able to spend the New Year with families who reunited in their villages—I learned a great deal about cultural traditions including language and food. This New Year, enjoy it with your children, whose teachers have shared with them many of the rich traditions of the lunar New Year. As you enjoy dinner on New Year’s Eve February 4, ask them to teach you about the traditions they have learned in school. You’ll be surprised and delighted by how much they know.

Happy New Year everybody!

Jeff

Jeffrey Bissell | 毕杰夫
Head of School
Chinese American International School

Glenwood Elementary to become language immersion magnet school

From The Tar Heel

By Jake Richard

Change is coming to Glenwood Elementary after the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education voted to convert Glenwood into a magnet school with an emphasis on its Mandarin language immersion program.

The program, which teaches students half of their curriculum in English and half in Mandarin, will become the central focus of the school.

An increasing amount of students have entered the Mandarin track in recent years, which has led to overcrowding at the school, said Jeff Nash, executive director of community relations for the district.

“Over the course of the years, we’ve added a new class each year as those kids have moved up,” Nash said. “There’s no more classrooms, so you’ve got to make some tough decisions with what you do with it.”

Please read more here.

Chinese Immersion Program introduces ‘new worlds’ to county students

From: The Cumberland Times-News

• JEFFREY ALDERTON 
• Oct 16, 2018

CUMBERLAND — Chinese educators visiting Braddock Middle School Tuesday expressed pleasant surprise that a Chinese Immersion Program is offered in the Allegany County Public Schools system.

“We visit mostly charter and independent schools every month, mostly on the West Coast and in New England,” said Paul O’Sullivan, the marketing director of HD Schools.

O’Sullivan and Jasper Pan, HD Schools’ CEO, were accompanied by Pearl You, a dual languages program consultant contracted by the Allegany County Board of Education for its Chinese Immersion Program.

More than 140 students from kindergarten through sixth grade are enrolled in the program at the West Side School and, for the first time this year, at Braddock Middle School.

Please read more here.

I don’t normally post job openings, partly because there would be so many and partly because Mandarin immersion teachers are so hard to find that it’s kind of evil to poach a teacher. That said, principal positions don’t come open very often, so it seems a slightly different thing and appropriate for someone looking to move up. The school has both a Mandarin and a Spanish track. 

HudsonWay Immersion School

HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS) has the reputation as the “best Mandarin and Spanish immersion program in NYC and NJ” due to its unique full immersion model, early start in preschool, teacher training and immersion leadership.   Reflecting that reputation, the school’s mission is to develop students as flexible thinkers, culturally aware and linguistically capable in at least two languages.

 

HWIS, serving children ages 2 to Grade 5, is the oldest independent Mandarin and Spanish immersion program in the NY/NJ area with two campuses – one on the upper west side of Manhattan, and one in NJ.  The school is poised to more than double enrollment growth with recently-obtained funding to expand and relocate the NY school in September 2019, and with the recent NJ move to a newly renovated Catholic school in NJ this past September 2018.  The school has also announced plans to grow in grades through grade 8 by 2021.

 

The new educational director/head of school will report to and partner with a board consisting of three owner investors.  Two of the owner investors are the original founders having started this school for their own children 13 years ago.  The third investor joined HWIS in late 2018 to support the NY expansion. Initially the role would focus on the education and operations of the school, expansion to middle school grades 6-8, development of after school clubs and building the parent community. The roles of finance, legal, HR, marketing and admissions would be outside the scope of the role.  It is believed that in 2-4 years the role would expand to include these functional areas and evolve from Educational Director to Head of School.

 

Educational Director/Head of School

The Educational Director (ED) is a leader who is a strong collaborative builder of people, possesses pedagogical high standards, and is passionate about the benefits of immersion education.  The ED will oversee two locations:  Stirling, NJ and NY, NY.  Reporting to the ED will be a team of assistant directors with both significant and newly acquired immersion experience.  The position will be subject to a bi-annual review by the school founders.

 

The successful candidate will possess many of the following experiences and skills:

 

• MA in Education related field (Administration, Curriculum & Instruction, Linguistics, etc.)
• Prior administrative experience in a leadership role in an independent school
• Prior teaching or administrative experience with an immersion school
• K-8 and early childhood experience
• Excellent community-outreach and relationship building skills
• Extensive knowledge of curriculum development; new research and technology enhancements
• Ability to create and sustain positive, ambitious school culture among staff and students

• Ability to develop teachers- mentor, provide feedback and constructive criticism, corrective action, coaching and discipline if necessary.

• Experience in assessment and achievement data analysis
• Leading school in acquiring accreditation

• Bilingual/fluent in one of the languages of instruction – Mandarin or Spanish

• Ability to partner with HR, Accounting, Admissions, Facilities, etc. in upholding and enforcing School policies and procedures
• Excellent communication skills– clear, direct communication with tact and professionalism
• Highly organized and attentive-to-detail, ability to manage administrative paperwork

Responsibilities:

Personnel and Programs

• Inspires a culture of mission-driven excellence and inclusion
• Implements and enhances a language immersion education program that promotes an international perspective for responsible citizenry at both a local and international level
• Manages and supervises all full and part-time staff
• Helps formulate performance management and culture of accountability
• Ensures that school’s curriculum and programs are evolving to meet student needs
• Ensures that school appearance and day to day management of operations is smooth
• Coordinate and oversee staff development and training that is aligned with New York and New Jersey State Standards, and the school’s curriculum
• Conducts regular staff meetings
• Designs and implements professional development workshops for all employees
• Oversees school data reporting systems and data analysis to inform instructional practice
• Effectively recruits and retains student population
• Effectively recruits and retains teacher population
• Provides input in developing the school’s long-term strategic plan
• Oversee the development of other programs such as after school, extended care, summer camp and Mommy & Me
• Works with high schools to develop feeder programs in support of ex-missions
• Works with licensing regulatory bodies

 

Parents/Community

• Ensures that the school builds enrollment and retains students
• Maintains an open-door policy for parents
• Participates in Family conferences when appropriate
• Articulates the school’s mission and vision to parents and the community
• Works with the parent association

 

 

Financial

• Oversees the implementation of the school’s annual budget
• Tracks and assigns all purchases
• Assures proper reporting of financials to Owners

 

Policies and Procedures

• Provides regular updates to founders/investor on:
  • Policies and procedures
  • Curriculum plan and achievement
  • Parent satisfaction
  • HR plan
  • Budget updates

Supervisory

• All instructional teachers; a diverse cultural and lingual employee base
• Administrative – finance, custodial, HR, admissions (this may evolve in year 2)
• Parent volunteers

 

 

Benefits:

• Competitive salary
• Benefits package to include vacation, health, 401K etc.

 

 

There will be an initial contract for a two-year period as Educational Director, followed by a two-year period as Head of School.  This is a Full-time 12-month position.  To start as soon as agreed upon, possibly prior to the end of the 2018/2019 academic year.

 

To Apply

Applicants may submit a cover letter, resume (with salary requirements) and a personal statement to: hr@hwis.org

 

HWIS is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity in the workplace. We actively encourage all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation to apply.

 

We regret that we will not be able to respond to every submission.  Only applicants of interest will be contacted.

 

Thank you for your interest in working for HWIS.

Note: I know several school districts where families raise money to send a few teachers to this conference every year, as it’s really the home for cutting-edge Mandarin immersion information.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 2019 NCLC

The 12th annual NCLC will be held from May 9–11 in San Diego, California at the
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina

The National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC) is the largest annual convening in the United States and North America that brings together leaders and practitioners in the field of Chinese language and culture education. It is dedicated to enhancing the capacity for teaching and learning of Chinese language culture by sharing cutting–edge practices and examples with educators and policymakers. Over the past 11 years, the conference has attracted over 13,300 international, national, state, and local educational leaders, school principals and teachers, and higher education faculty. Register Now »

Join us and celebrate the growth of the Chinese language field!
At NCLC 2019, you could:

Choose from more than 110 sessions and workshops, including new interactive formats such as mini-workshops, swap shop, and e-poster presentations
Hear from visionary speakers and thought leaders in the field
Network with educators in the field
Browse diverse resources in the exhibit hall
Enjoy performances highlighting Chinese culture
Sign up for preconference school visits to see local K-12 Chinese language programs in action (additional fee applies, more details to be released later)
Participate in preconference workshops, half-day/full-day (additional fee applies, more details to be released later)
Explore the rich cultural offerings of San Diego
Register now at the early-bird rate by March 7 and save.

Info here:

Chinese New Year is Feb. 5, and Lego is ready. The Danish company is offering two Chinese New Year-themed sets. But parents in the United States won’t have seen them in stores because they’re sadly only available in the Asia Pacific region.

If you happen to have friends heading to China et al it could make a nice gift. And it might be possible to buy them on TMall and have them delivered here, though I can’t tell if that would work.

There’s also a dragon dance troupe, with an articulated dragon!

With the other set you can create a Chinese New Year meal, complete with a whole cooked fish, dumplings and a lazy Susan.

The dragon dance set is 599RMB (around $85) and the New Year’s Eve feast set is 699RMB (about $100).

 

 

A military spending bill signed by President Donald Trump in August limits funding from the U.S. Department of Defense for Chinese language programs at schools that also host Confucius Institutes, which are Chinese government-funded nonprofits that promote Chinese language and culture.

The provision of the National Defense Authorization Act requires schools to separate  Confucius Classroom teachers, who are funded by China’s Confucius Institute, from Department of Defense critical language grant-funded programs (at least I think it does, it’s a little unclear.)

Although the actual language in the bill only refers to higher education, it appears it is also being applied to Mandarin immersion K – 12 programs that have funding through the Department of Defense, probably through the various critical language programs.

Most news reports have only been about university programs, so the move took some schools by surprise.

Schools were notified last week that the separation must be complete and certified by Tuesday, January 15th. That’s causing many Mandarin immersion programs to have to remove Confucius Classroom teachers.

Here’s a good story from Inside Higher Ed explaining what’s happening.

The Bill

Here’s how a columnist for the Washington Post explained it on August 12, 2018 column:

Tucked inside the $716 billion John McCain 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that President Trump signed Monday is a provision barring any U.S. university from using Pentagon resources for any program involving Confucius Institutes, Chinese government-funded language schools embedded inside U.S. colleges. In the future, any universities that have Pentagon-funded and Chinese government-funded Chinese language programs will have to secure a Pentagon waiver if they want to keep both.

 

Here’s the actual bill. The section that is about the Confucius Institute is 1065.

The language in the bill

SEC. 1065. PROHIBITION OF FUNDS FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION PROVIDED BY A CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE.

(a) PROHIBITION—None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2019 under this Act may be obligated or expended for Chinese language instruction provided by a Confucius Institute.

(b) LIMITATION—None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2019 under this Act may be obligated or expended to support a Chinese language program at an institution of higher education that hosts a Confucius Institute.

(c) WAIVER—The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness may waive the limitation in subsection (b) with respect to a Chinese language program at a specific institution of higher education if the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness—

(1) certifies to the congressional defense committees that—

(A) Confucius Institute employees and instructors will have no affiliation with the pro- gram;

(B) Confucius Institute employees and instructors will provide no instruction or support to the program;

(C) Confucius Institute employees and instructors will have no authority or influence with regard to the curriculum and activities of the program; and

(D) the institution has made publicly avail- able all memoranda of understanding, con- tracts, and other agreements between the institution and the Confucius Institute, or between the institution and any agency of or organization affiliated with the government of the People’s Republic of China; or

(2) certifies to the congressional defense committees that—

(A) the requirements described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (1) have been met; and

(B) the waiver of the limitation in subsection (b) is necessary for national security, and there is no reasonable alternative to issuing the waiver.

(d) DEFINITIONS—

(1) CHINESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM—The term ‘Chinese language program’’ means any Department of Defense program designed to provide or support Chinese language instruction, including the National Security Education Program, the Language Flagship program, Project Global Officer, and the Language Training Centers program.

(2) CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE—The term ‘‘Confucius Institute’’ means a Confucius Institute that is operated by the Office of Chinese Languages Council International, also known as Hanban, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION—The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).

Letter to Portland Mandarin immersion families about the change

Here’s a letter that went out on January 10, 2019 to families at Woodstock Elementary school in Portland, Oregon. Woodstock is the second-oldest public Mandarin immersion program in the nation.

=====

Dear PPS Chinese Dual Language Immersion Families,

As many of you may know, PPS has been fortunate to receive significant grant funding from both the US government and the Chinese government for over twelve years to support opportunities for K-12 students to learn Chinese language and culture. These significant financial supports enabled PPS to expand opportunities from several hundred students to thousands of students in diverse settings. Our intent is to continue to use these resources to support and expand these opportunities.

However, due to federal funding legislation passed by the US Senate this past year, we are required to separate these funding sources and programs. What this means at the school level is that our Confucius Classroom (CC) teachers will not be able to work in our Chinese DLI classrooms. We were notified this week that this separation must be complete and certified by Tuesday, January 15th. Unfortunately, the way the law is written, we have no choice in this matter if we are to retain these two grants.

Those CC teachers currently working in Chinese DLI program classrooms will be shifted to other classrooms or schools to establish this separation. We are working with our principals on how to make this happen given the short timeline.  Principals will share those details with students and families.

We will miss having these wonderful adults as part of our DLI programs.   However, moving PPS into compliance with this new law allows PPS and the Portland community to maintain both resources for supporting the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture. All DLI programs and courses will continue, and every effort will be made to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Thanks for your patience and understanding as we work to do our best to serve students while complying with this new legislation.

Sincerely,

Michael Bacon

Director of Department of Dual Language

Portland Public Schools