• Mr. Peterson reached out to me about how to find families and get them involved in the new school they’re creating in Contra Costa County (just north of Berkeley for you non-San Francisco Bay area folks.) I was quite impressed with his enthusiasm and awareness of the issues. It sounds like it’s going to be a good school. And again, kudos to the district for creating a whole school and not just a strand. That’s such a huge leg

    WCCUSD’s new Mandarin language school gets first principal

    WCCUSD's new Mandarin language school gets first principal
    Eric Peterson, new principal of West County Mandarin School.

    Eric Peterson has been named principal of the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s (WCCUSD) new Mandarin language school that is set to open in August.

    Peterson currently serves as the WCCUSD Director of Special Education. Before that, he was the principal at Dover Elementary School in San Pablo.

    He is an award-winning educator with “a long history with the Mandarin language” and has experience building and sustaining bilingual programs, according to Superintendent Matthew Duffy.

    In 2011, Peterson was honored in a White House ceremony as a National Board Certified Teacher and is active in several professional organizations, including the California Association for Bilingual Education, the district said.

    Please read more here.

  • There are several in Minnesota through CARLA, the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition.

    Make sure your administrators know about these. Link is here.

    Here’s CARLA’s general website for immersion programs.

     Summer Institutes for Language Teachers

    The CARLA summer institutes listed below are primarily targeted at K–12 and post-secondary foreign language and ESL teachers. They are not designed to meet the unique needs of immersion teachers. Please refer to the bottom of each page for specific information about the target audience. Please see the section below for immersion-specific institutes.

     July 10–August 13, 2017

    Location 

    Using the Web
    for Communicative Language Learning

       This is a 5-week ONLINE ONLY institute
    " " Register Now! " " Online Only!

     July 10–14, 2017

    Location 

    Developing Assessments
    for the Second Language Classroom
    " " Register Now! " " YMCA 3rd Floor
    1801 Univ Ave SE
    " "
    Teaching Heritage Languages
    and Learners
    " " Register Now! " " Northrop
    Crosby Room
    " "
    Creativity in the Classroom

     

    " " Register Now! " " Nolte 140

     July 17–21, 2017

    Location 

    Using Technology
    in Second Language Teaching
    " " Register Now! " " Jones 35
    Online option!
    " "
    Improving Language Learning:
    Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction
    " " Register Now! " " Nolte 140
    " "
    Teaching Language
    Through the Lens of Social Justice
    " " Register Now! " " YMCA 3rd Floor
    1801 Univ Ave SE
    " "
    Using Authentic Materials to
    Develop 21st Century Literacies
    NEW!
    " " Register Now! " " Nicholson 115

     July 24–28, 2017

    Location 

    Content-Based Language Instruction
    and Curriculum Development
    " " Register Now! " " Nolte 140
    " "
    Culture as the Core
    in the Second Language Classroom
    " " Register Now! " " YMCA 3rd Floor
    1801 Univ Ave SE
    " "
    Growing Learner Language:
    A Hands-On Approach
    " " Register Now! " " Nicholson 115
    " "

     

  • By Elizabeth Weise

    Mandarin immersion programs in the United States continue to expand, with nine new programs scheduled to launch in the fall of 2017 for the 2017-2018 school year. For the coming school year, there will be at least 235 Mandarin immersion programs in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

    Here’s an update for the current State of Mandarin Immersion, based on the database of programs I maintain here. I have tried to keep it as up to date and accurate as possible, but if you find errors, please send me an email so I can correct them

    March 2017 Numbers

    Total schools as of the 2017-2018 school year          235

    New schools for 2017-2018

    Crest Elementary School Eugene OR
    Northern Hills High School Grand Rapids MI
    PUC International Preparatory Academy Los Angeles CA
    Fred Newhart Middle Schoo Mission Viejo CA
    Elementary 23 Overland Park KS
    Serra campus Richmond CA
    South Fork Elementary Rigby ID
    Desert Canyon Elementary Scottsdale AZ
    Mesa Elementary School West Covina CA

    School type

    Public                                                  170      72.3%

    Charter                                                25       10.6%

    Private                                                 40       17.0%

    What grades

    K – 5 or 6         149                  63.4%

    K – 8                38                    16.1%

    Middle school 35                    14.8%

    K – 12               5                      2.1%

    High School     7                      2.9%

    Middle + High School  1          0.4%

    TOTAL             235

    Percent Time in Mandarin 

    50/50                                      125      64.7%

    More than 60%                       65        33.6%

    80 and above                         59        30.5%

    Strand versus whole school

    Strand             164      84.9%

    Whole             29        15.0%

     

    Simplified/Traditional

    Simplified       162      83.5%

    Traditional      32        16.4%

    Programs by State:

    Of total, California is 24.6%, Utah is 19.1%

    CA 58
    UT 45
    NY 12
    AZ 10
    MI 10
    MN 10
    NC 9
    OR 9
    CO 8
    GA 8
    IL 8
    MD 7
    WA 7
    SC 5
    DE 4
    TX 4
    NJ 3
    DC 2
    IN 2
    MA 2
    OK 2
    AK 1
    FL 1
    ID 1
    KS 1
    LA 1
    MO 1
    OH 1
    RI 1
    WI 1
    WY 1
  • This highlights how immersion students end up with college language credit in high school – not bad for 15-year-olds!

  • Forest Hills Schools, WMU, agreement allows students to earn Chinese minor

    Monica Scott | mscott2@mlive.comBy Monica Scott 

    March 02, 2017

     

    GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Forest Hills Public Schools and Western Michigan University Extended University Programs entered into an agreement Thursday, March 2, that allows students to earn a full Chinese language minor along with their diploma.

    Officials say the “Collegiate Pathways” program launching the 2017-18 school year is the first of its kind. The dual-enrollment program will be at Forest Hills Northern High School.

    “This partnership with Forest Hills provides a model we hope will be used to deliver similar programs for other districts,” said Dawn Gaymer, associate provost for WMU’s Extended University Programs.

    Please read more here.