A great overview of Canada’s Mandarin immersion landscape. It’s remarkable that 43% of the greater Vancouver area in British Columbia is Asian-Canadian, and yet it has only three small program. Edmonton, in Alberta, by contrast has a vibrant and large immersion program.

Also check out the stories at the end by the dad whose daughter speaks Mandarin and how it helped her get jobs, even in high school. A good one to tell the kids!

 

Metro Vancouver losing competitiveness due to lack of language immersion programs

 

Bing Thom and Loretta Kong still remember when Kong interviewed for a position with the renowned Vancouver-based architect’s firm in 2007.

“She spoke English, Mandarin and Cantonese,” said Thom, adding that was a key reason for hiring the young architect. “Loretta studied Chinese history and was immersed in the culture.”

Kong, now an associate with Shape Architecture in Vancouver, is a product of the extensive bilingual-immersion programs in Edmonton schools. Kong took half of her elementary and high-school classes in Mandarin Chinese.

“I do remember him being very surprised,” she recalled of the meeting with Thom. “It did impress him that a smaller centre like Edmonton had a program like this for more than 20 years.”

Since 1984, the Alberta capital has offered one of the largest Mandarin Chinese programs in Canada, with 2,009 students enrolled in 13 schools. It is the school district’s second-most-popular bilingual-immersion program, behind French with 3,703 student. What’s more, Edmonton also has 1,335 students in its Arabic program, in addition to having comparable programs for German, Hebrew, Spanish, Ukrainian and American Sign Language.

By comparison, Metro school, serving a much larger population, have about 500 students in total in immersion Mandarin programs.

As the school year starts, some parents are again demanding that B.C. — Canada’s gateway to the Pacific — should be doing more to increase foreign-language competency among students. The alternative, they say, is an increasingly uncompetitive workforce, especially when compared to graduates of programs like Edmonton’s.

Please read more here.

The issues faced by this successful program in Orange County, Calif. are mirrored by many programs when they reach middle school, where things become less clear cut and placement looms large. No word yet on where the program will land. – Beth

CUSD Board Votes to Reconsider Mandarin immersion Program Policy

The  Board of Trustees will reconsider this fall the district’s Mandarin Immersion Program (MIP) policy, including the program’s feeder pattern, which trustees previously approved in April.On April 13, the board voted 5-2 to approve the program’s pathway from Marian Bergeson Elementary School to Niguel Hills. Two trustees requested the middle school location be reconsidered, pointing to about $1 million in renovations that would need to be completed in order to house the program at Niguel Hills Middle School.

Please read more here.

Forest Hills Mandarin Chinese Immersion students recently hosted a group of 29 students from Shanghai at the Cascade Recreation Park.

In addition to lunch, the 60-plus children spent time on the newly installed play structure and participated in a few organized games.

But most importantly, it was a chance to practice their language skills while making new friends and having fun.

Forest Hills students in the seven-year-old program take half of their classes in Mandarin from teachers from China. This is the second year for the picnic with students visiting from China, said Tim Shaw, principal of Meadowbrook Elementary.

Please read more here.

[from the YonHap News Agency]

Diversity in public schools

Korea’s elementary and secondary schools have been lacking in globalization efforts. A couple of recent cases shows that Korean adolescents may get more chances to learn about the merits of diversity and embrace multiculturalism in their formative years.

The Seoul City education office announced last week that it will pursue the establishment of “international elementary schools,” offering Chinese immersion programs at schools located in parts of Seoul with a growing Chinese-speaking population. The education office has chosen Youngil Elementary School in Guro and Daedong Elementary School in Yeongdeungpo to try out the Chinese immersion program. These two schools offer regular classes and extra-curricular activities in both Korean and Chinese. The education office is aiming to establish the two schools as international elementary schools by 2018.

Whether this plan will become a reality is uncertain. Currently, the law governing the establishment of elementary and secondary schools does not allow an international educational curriculum at elementary schools. So a legislative revision will be necessary to establish an international elementary school. At the middle school level, there are four international schools.

Please read more here.

Actually, most of the signs in this article won’t make sense (or will seem insane) to anyone outside of San Francisco. Most of them seem pretty insane to me, frankly. But this one, well, yes, in fact I do….

(and what does it say that one of my first thoughts was “Wow, his handwriting is pretty good for a kid who’s probably in 2nd or 3rd grade.)

You can see the whole article here.

I’m a little unclear on this one, as there are several Mandarin immersion public schools in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. However this article states that the Ministry of Education told them that only English or French could be used as the main languages of instruction. Perhaps one of our readers in B.C. can shed some light on the issue?

Chinese Village Club plans school

• by  Alex Browne – Peace Arch News
• posted Aug 25, 2016 at 3:00 PM

History will be made this school year when the “Global Ambassadors Language Academy” opens its doors to students.

The school, known as “GALA” for short, is the first dual language immersion school in Northeast Ohio. The first day of school is Aug. 3.

School administrators held an open house for students and parents today. Students will not only learn the core subjects, but also Spanish or Mandarin, an offer that is very attractive to parents.

Please read more here.