Children of immigrants who can speak, read and write in both English and the language spoken at home have an advantage in the labor market, a new report released Tuesday finds.

The report by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and the Educational Testing Service, a nonprofit testing organization, shows that individuals with immigrant backgrounds who only speak English and don’t retain the language spoken at home lose between $2,000 and $5,000 annually.

In contrast, those with immigrant backgrounds who know both English and the language spoken at home—also known as “balanced bilinguals”—are more likely to earn more money than those who only speak English. They are also more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, enter higher status occupations and have more social networks.

“Being able to speak another language and being able to communicate with folks across cultural borders turns out to be very important in our modern world,” Patricia Gándara, the report’s author, said during a webinar Tuesday.

Please see more here.

Openings in SFUSD’s Mandarin Immersion Program

San Francisco Unified School District’s Mandarin Immersion program is a unique opportunity for students to not only learn Mandarin, but learn in Mandarin.  SFUSD’s Mandarin Immersion program launched in 2006 with two kindergarten classes at Starr King Elementary School, and a year later, a third kindergarten class was added at Jose Ortega Elementary School.  Today, almost a decade later, the Mandarin Immersion program has been extended to include middle school at Aptos and high school at Lincoln.
Families interested in the Mandarin Immersion program are encouraged to apply for potential openings at Starr King and Jose Ortega during both Spring and Fall transfer periods.  No previous Mandarin exposure or background is necessary for students transferring in January or August, in either kindergarten or first grade.

Because families move during the school year and over the summer, its typical for openings to pop up at various times.  So even if the Mandarin Immersion classes start out full at the beginning of the year, and even if your child did not get into either Starr King or Jose Ortega at the beginning of the school year, you are still encouraged to submit a Spring or Fall transfer request.

The deadline to apply for Spring (January) transfer is November 18, 2015.  To apply for Spring (January) transfer, submit an application, in person, to the Educational Placement Center at 555 Franklin Street, Room 100.  The Spring transfer application can be found here: http://www.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/enroll/files/2015-16/2015-16_spring_transfer_request_en.pdf.  More information about the Spring transfer process can be found here: http://www.sfusd.edu/en/enroll-in-sfusd-schools/placement-periods/placement-reference.html.

The deadline to apply for Fall (August) transfer is January 15, 2016.  To apply, submit an application, in person, to the Educational Placement Center at 555 Franklin Street, Room 100  The application can be found here: http://www.sfusd.edu/en/assets/sfusd-staff/enroll/files/2016-17/2016-17_enrollment_application_EN.pdf.  More information about new-school-year transfers can be found here: http://www.sfusd.edu/en/enroll-in-sfusd-schools/policy-reference.html#New%20School%20Year%20Transfers.

IMPORTANT – If you miss these formal deadlines, but are still interested in Mandarin Immersion, you are still encouraged to submit an application to the Educational Placement Center, at any time.  Again, families move out of the district at various times during the year, so it does not hurt to let EPC know of your family’s interest in Mandarin Immersion.

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舊金山市聯合學區(SFUSD)所屬的漢語(普通話)沈浸式雙語教學學校，現在招收數名幼稚園及小學一年級學生。

舊金山市聯合學區的漢語(普通話)沈浸式雙語教學是為學生提供學習漢語(普通話)獨一且難逢的機遇，因為學生於本教學中不但能學習漢語(普通話)，而且是以漢語(普通話)來學習。實施本教學的學校現在將招收數名幼稚園及小學一年級學生。

對沈浸式雙語教學方式有意之家長們，歡迎向學校Starr King及Jose Ortega於春季或秋季二學期期間提出轉學申請。

轉學申請截止日期：春季班入學： 2015年11月18日。

秋季班入學： 2016年1月15日。

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旧金山市联合学区(SFUSD)所属的汉语(普通话)沈浸式双语教学学校，现在招收数名幼儿园及小学一年级学生。

旧金山市联合学区的汉语(普通话)沈浸式双语教学是为学生提供学习汉语(普通话)独一且难逢的机遇，因为学生于本教学中不但能学习汉语(普通话)，而且是以汉语(普通话)来学习。实施本教学的学校现在将招收数名幼儿园及小学一年级学生。

对沈浸式双语教学方式有意之家长们，欢迎向学校Starr King及Jose Ortega于春季或秋季二学期期间提出转学申请。

转学申请截止日期：春季班入学： 2015年11月18日。

秋季班入学： 2016年1月15日

A nice essay by a Mandarin-speaking parent (with a great blog!) on the issues around choosing between Traditional and Simplified characters.

For most people it’s a moot point because you basically go with whatever your local Mandarin immersion school teaches and that’s the end of it, At this point, about 75% teach simplified, the rest Traditional.

But useful for the non-Chinese speakers among us to have a sense of the broader issues, because it’s sure to come up at a PTA meeting at some point. Someone will raise their hand and say, “I just wondered if we could revisit how our school came to teach (insert Traditional or Simplified here) characters and whether we’d like to appoint a committee to further discuss the matter.”

At that point, you should run screaming from the room…

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For those of you who do not know, there is a raging debate within the Chinese community about whether Traditional or Simplified characters are better and why. Some of it is due to political ideology, some based on preference, and some based on practicality. If you are really curious, may I suggest to you this link.

It will be no surprise to many of you that I preferred Traditional Characters – and staunchly. However, as much as I personally prefer Traditional characters, that doesn’t necessarily follow that I think your child should learn Traditional. (Of course, it would benefit me if more folks chose Traditional because then there would be more materials easily available in the US, but that is an entirely different topic and not altogether germane to this particular discussion.)

In true fact, my opinion on what people should choose has changed greatly. I find that the further along I am on this journey of teaching my kids to be literate in Chinese, the more nuanced and pragmatic my opinion becomes.

Please read more here.

Note: A better translation of what the student says (加油!) would be “Give it the gas!”

By Julie Chang – American-Statesman Staff

About 20 first-grade students at Northwest Austin’s Doss Elementary School cheered their classmate in Chinese on Monday as he tried to remember Sunday’s date.

“Add oil, Ben G.!” chimed the children in Chinese, using the common Chinese idiom to encourage him.

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First-grade teacher Connie Soong begins a new school year at Doss Elementary with a Chinese immersion program for her students. The … Read More

As the boy pointed to the 23rd on the calendar, students congratulated him, “Fei chang hao!”

Although they went all summer without the intensive Chinese language training they had been receiving at Doss, students were barely rusty. They listened to their teacher Connie Soong speak only in Mandarin and easily answered her questions in the language.

Doss, which expanded the dual language program into the fourth grade this year, reflects the growing emphasis of dual language programs across Central Texas. The Austin school district has 13,000 dual language students, and the rest of the region has about 5,000 more, with most of the growth happening over the past five years.

Please read more here.

The great folks at CELIN, the Chinese Early Language and Immersion Network, have created a searchable listing of Mandarin immersion programs based on my spreadsheet and I wanted to make sure parents and programs were aware of this resource.

CELIN is a project of The Asia Society and they’ve got a super helpful website.

Their Directory of Programs is available here and includes information I don’t collect, such as the number of students and information about the curriculum. I encourage programs to visit the site and update their information there.

CELIN was established to strengthen and expand Chinese language education in early childhood, primary grades, and immersion programs. With a focus on Chinese language education, we convene and work together with practitioners, researchers, policy makers, parents, and advocates for language learning across the United States and beyond.