Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • Some great teacher workshops in Minnesota

    If your parent group just happens to have some extra money laying around at the end of the year and is looking for something to fund for your teachers…

    You can check out the website for the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition here.

    Second Language Acquisition Basics for Teachers

    July 18-22, 2016SLABasics

    Target Audience: Language and content teachers in middle and high school immersion programs. 

    Using research-based second language acquisition tools, you will learn how to examine your learners’ language to better tailor your instruction to your learners’ needs. You will learn how to sharpen your learners’ critical thinking skills and you will expand your repertoire of tasks and activities to get learners speaking and writing.

    Presenters: Elaine Tarone, CARLA director and distinguished teaching professor at the University of Minnesota, is well known internationally for her research and teaching on the topic of second language acquisition.

    Maggie Broner is associate professor and current chair of the Romance Languages Department at St. Olaf College, Minnesota. She has presented and published her research on second language learning and content-based instruction in a wide range of national professional venues.

    Gwen Barnes-Karol, professor at St. Olaf College, will join the institute to share her expertise.

    Find out more about this unique opportunity on the Second Language Acquisition Basics summer institute web page: http://carla.umn.edu/institutes/2016/sla.html

    Registration information: http://carla.umn.edu/institutes/registration.html

    *Does not include the University of Minnesota student credit registrations. Good through May 15, 2016
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    Register now for your summer institute!early-bird-siJoin the more than 5,000 language teachers who have participated in this internationally known program. Linking research and theory with practical applications for the classroom, each institute includes discussion, theory-building, hands-on activities, and plenty of networking opportunities.

    Hurry-the early-bird registration deadline is May 29!

    Summer Institutes for Language Teachers

    CARLA offers a range of institutes targeted at foreign language and ESL teachers from a variety of teaching levels and contexts:

    Using the Web for Communicative Language Learning and Professional Development-online course 
    July 11-August 14, 2016

    Using Technology in Second Language Teaching
    July 11-15, 2016

    Creativity in the Classroom: Fostering Student Learning Through Creative Language Experiences
    July 11-15, 2016

    Teaching Language Through the Lens of Social Justice–NEW and almost full!
    July 11-15, 2016

    Developing Assessments for the Second Language Classroom

    July 18-22, 2016

    Improving Language Learning: Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction
    July 18-22, 2016

    Focusing on Learner Language: Second Language Acquisition Basics for Teachers
    July 18-22, 2016

    Culture as the Core in the Second Language Classroom
    July 25-29, 2016

    Content-Based Language Instruction and Curriculum Development 

    July 25-29, 2016

    Developing Materials for Language Teaching
    July 25-29, 2016

    Teaching Heritage Languages and Learners–NEW!
    July 25-29, 2016

    Special Opportunity!
    CARLAtech: Transitioning to Teaching Language Online (TTLO)
    June 13-July 3, 2016 (3-week online course)

  • Why learning Chinese is a good idea

    Check out this great infographic on the topic.

  • St. Paul, Minn. Mandarin immersion school expanding

    Yinghua Academy expansion underway

    September 18, 2013

    Susan Berg (Photo by Gain Olson)

    Northeast resident and parent Jennifer Shadowens said that her two children giggle when she tries to speak Chinese to them.

    Both youngsters are students at Yinghua Academy, a K-8 Chinese immersion public charter school at 1616 Buchanan St. NE. Shadowens, who is Yinghua’s board chair, said she doesn’t mind when her attempts to replicate the language’s tonal sounds amuse her kids.

    “It’s empowering for them to be experts at something.” She added that she and her husband—who met in a Greek language class in Athens—resolved that their children would learn another language when they were young. “The program has helped them be successful. It makes learning a language a way of life. Now they want to learn Spanish and Nepali. I love it that my kids think it’s normal.”

    Please read more here.

  • China Studies Seminars from the Asia Society

    Beyond Pedagogy: Content Matters in Chinese 
    By Yun Qin
    The linguistic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” If we begin with the understanding that students learn a new language in order to experience a bigger world, then it follows that language teachers should not teach languages with the final goal being language acquisition alone. Rather, teachers are tasked with showing students how to use languages as a tool to explore different life directions, to expand their minds, and to push their students beyond their limits. Most teacher-training events I have attended focus on teaching methodologies—in other words, “how to teach.” But without a focus on what to teach, the how to teach falls flat.

    To provide an answer to this question of what to teach, the Chinese Language Initiatives team at Asia Society has designed a series of China Studies Seminars. Our goal is to help Chinese language teachers gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of modern China—of Chinese language and Chinese culture per se, as well as to guide teachers to integrate both traditional and contemporary cultural elements into their Chinese classrooms. This summer we facilitated the first seminar in Shanghai. In the coming months, we will share reflections from our participants, and give you a taste of what they experienced through interviews with them and the seminar experts.Read on for details of the seminar, and watch a video to hear from the participants themselves.


  • See how other schools do it

    A nice roundup of the programs in Seattle and elsewhere, from our friends at The Chinese Early Language and Immersion Network at the Asia Society. Their site is always worth visiting.

    More here.

     

    CELIN Connection

    We hope that the school year is going well and that you and your students are enjoying many rich and exciting experiences learning and using Chinese!

    Program Profiles
    This month we are pleased to feature a Program Profile about the Mandarin Immersion Programs in Seattle, Washington, which serve students in grades K–7 and are expanding to higher grades. Started in 1995 by General John Stanford, then superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, the programs started with Spanish immersion and expanded to Japanese and then to Mandarin. The programs receive funding from many sources and offer rich opportunities for Seattle students to learn and use Chinese in the United States and Chinese-speaking countries. You can also read about other program profiles here.

    The staff of the Mandarin Immersion Programs in Seattle are pleased to share the following curriculum resources:

    Many additional resources are available in our collection of curricula and curriculum resources available from national organizations, states, districts, and schools. We believe that you will find this resource to be helpful. We would love to know about, and make available to others, curricula that you use in your Chinese language learning context. Please send your information to us at celin@asiasociety.org. Thank you!

    Don’t forget to visit the CELIN Program Directory to document your Chinese early language and immersion program or to search for other programs in your area or across the United States.

    Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

    –Shuhan Wang and Joy Peyton

  • A parent letter about a Mandarin program being cancelled in Idaho

    Dr. Ranells’ recent decision to cancel the Mandarin Chinese Immersion program at Gateway Elementary will be an incredible loss for West Ada School District families and the Treasure Valley. Her decision eliminates a unique opportunity for our children to master skills that will position them to succeed in a global workforce and to grow Idaho businesses in the global market.

    The program has a full curriculum, proper textbooks and momentum; why would Dr. Ranells choose to scrap it now? The Chinese program began seven years ago, expanding academic opportunities for our youngest students.

    When the District failed to support the growing program with appropriate resources, many parents jumped in, worked with the Gateway staff and the District, and the program grew stronger. The Chinese program is ready to flourish, now that the basic foundation has been built, there is community support, and extra funding options exist.

    Dr. Ranells claims that the program is not sustainable based on student numbers for the past three years, but she ignores all the work done by teachers, parents and the principal in the past two years. The program is sustainable. If Dr. Ranells would look forward, the Treasure Valley would benefit from a flourishing Chinese program.

    LAUREN GUSINOW, BOISE

    You can see the letter here.

  • LA Mandarin immersion program might have to share with charter

    Parents fear for dual-language Mandarin program if charter joins campus

    Posted on April 8, 2016 12:42 pm by 

    CastelarSchoolProtest

    Angelica Lopez Moyes is amazed that her 1st-grade son can speak Mandarin. But she is concerned that his dual-language immersion program at Castelar Street Elementary School could  be jeopardized if a charter is co-located on the campus.

    Castelar, founded in 1882 and the second-oldest school in Los Angeles, has 570 students and is at about 75 percent capacity. Under Proposition 39, passed in 2000, the remaining space can be given to a charter.

    Please read more here.