Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • San Mateo, Calif. Mandarin immersion program may be moved due to overcrowding

    Next Steps committee nears goal: Officials to decide how to address San Mateo, Foster City school overcrowding
    April 25, 2015, 05:00 AM By Austin Walsh Daily Journal

    Residents have spoken and now it is time for officials in the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District to consider the feedback when developing strategies for how to best address overcrowded classrooms and campuses.

    The Next Steps Advisory Committee wrapped up a second round of community outreach, which allowed members to gather feedback from residents regarding a variety of options targeted at solving problems caused by projected enrollment growth in coming years.

    Committee members are charged with digesting the dialogue they had with the residents spread across nearly 20 community town hall meetings and forums in the last month, and then form a recommendation to the Board of Trustees regarding whether to pursue a bond measure that would fund building new facilities.

    Residents gathered at College Park Elementary School Thursday, April 23 to express their opinion regarding the future of the campus, which officials are considering overhauling to offer a local school to the North Central neighborhood in San Mateo.

    Currently the campus is home to a Mandarin immersion program, and a majority of students from the neighborhood are bused to a mix of other elementary schools throughout the district.

    Please read more here.

  • Arizona immersion programs books overall scores significantly

    World Language Learning Boosts Student Achievement

    World Language Learning Boosts Student Achievement

    A superintendent’s initiative to start a world language program beginning in elementary school has helped students consistently score higher than the district and state test averages.

    Superintendent Debbi C. Burdick began the world language program in 2008 and integrated learning Spanish and Chinese languages into the elementary school level in her district of Cave Creek USD in Arizona.

    Years later, students “in the various world language programs have excelled above and beyond district and state averages, pushing the district up in rankings to fifth out of 227 districts in Arizona,” according to an article on DistrictAdministration.com.

    Please read more here.

  • Wyoming Mandarin immersion program at gets NSA grant

    Casper dual language program receives grant from National Security Agency

    17 hours ago  •  Nick Balatsos 307-266-0592, Nick.Balatsos@Trib.com

    Paradise Valley Elementary School will receive $70,000 from the National Security Agency to support students learning Mandarin Chinese at the school.

    The grant was announced and approved Monday night during a Natrona County School District board meeting.

    The money will be used to support the school’s summer Mandarin Chinese immersion camp.

    The grant money will help pay instructor salaries, said district spokesman Kelly Eastes.

    The camp will take place July 8 through July 24, providing 144 students in grades K-5 at the school with a dual-language learning opportunity.

    There will be morning and afternoon sessions. During each session, the camp has room for 20 incoming kindergartners, 20 first-graders from the school’s dual-language program and 22 spots for those in the second grade program.

    In addition, there is space for 20 third through fifth grade students who are not in the dual language immersion program.

    Please read more here.

  • Costa Mesa, Calif. to get Mandarin Immersion program

    Mandarin, Spanish, arts, sciences: Schools showcase special programs

    Costa Mesa, CA, United States

    By Nicole Knight Shine
    April 2, 2015 | 7:04 p.m.
    Although her son is only 5, Sherrie Papa already sees a bilingual education as key to the boy’s future.

    “You need more than one language,” said Papa, 39, as she looked over bilingual program brochures Wednesday night at an informational event hosted by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

    The event was meant to let Newport-Mesa parents know about a raft of new academic programs for district students entering kindergarten and high school. Some of the programs emphasize bilingual education, while others focus on specific subjects, such as the arts, engineering and science.

    In booths scattered around in the Costa Mesa High School quad, school principals and teachers fielded parents’ questions. More than 200 people turned out, organizers said.

    Please read more here.

  • Summer Mandarin immersion camp list updated

    I added some camps in China to the list, which might be of interest to folks planning their summer vacations.

    Beth

     

    List is here.

  • Seattle-area school district makes language immersion a priority

    Language immersion a priority for Bellevue School District

    BY JILLIAN RAFTERY, KIRO Radio Editor | April 9, 2015 @ 2:24 pm

    Puesta Del Sol Elementary is the region’s only language immersion program in a public school system where students start learning Spanish in kindergarten. (KIRO Radio/Jillian Raftery)

    Right away, visitors will notice that Nicole Perriella’s second grade classroom in Bellevue is a little different.

    At Puesta Del Sol Elementary, instead of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it’s “leyendo, escribiendo, y las matemáticas.”

    It’s the region’s only language immersion program in a public school system where students start learning Spanish in kindergarten. They’re fluent by the fifth grade, and go on to take college courses while in high school.

    The program has become so popular, the district recently added a Mandarin Chinese dual language program at Jing Mei Elementary in Bellevue.

    Heidi Lamar, English Language Learners Curriculum Supervisor for the Bellevue School District, said administrators and parents have seen first-hand the results of bilingual learning: better test scores, cognitive aptitude, and high confidence in later years.

    Please read more here.

  • Sydney, Australia suburb gets Mandarin immersion school

    Screen Shot 2015-04-02 at 4.12.51 PMInternational Chinese School, Chatswood, celebrates official opening with registrations to 2020
    CARYN METCALFE NORTH SHORE TIMES APRIL 01, 2015 3:00PM SHARE

    WITH registrations all the way to 2020, the establishment of the International Chinese School in Chatswood has been a great ­success.

    The school was officially opened recently with a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Anglican Church.

    Primary co-ordinator Wendy Yu said the school’s 10 enrolled students, all in kindergarten, sang bilingually at the service.

    Please read more here.

    School site is here.