Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

Information for parents of kids in Mandarin immersion education

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  • San Diego Chinese Language Academy Celebrates Lunar New Year

    The Chinese Lunar New Year celebration is not over in San Diego. There is a special celebration at a special school.

    Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy, a Chinese language immersion school in Pacific Beach, has thrown a Lunar New Year party for the past seven years. This year, the Lunar New Year began on Feb. 19.

    From the outside it looks like any other school carnival: kids singing adorably off key and smiling parents snapping pictures. But after listening closely it becomes clear the students are singing in Chinese.

    Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy kindergarteners performed in the Lunar New Year festival, Feb. 25, 2015.
    Photo by Matthew Bowler
    Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy kindergarteners performed in the Lunar New Year festival, Feb. 25, 2015.

    Please read more here.

  • Chinese TV takes a look at Mandarin immersion in Colorado.

    US students being immersed in Chinese language

    CCTV.com

    02-25-2015 01:44 BJT

    Learning Mandarin is becoming increasingly popular around the world, with many people learning the language in the hope it will give them a competitive edge.

    Close your eyes and you might think you’re in a Chinese classroom. But this is Aurora, Colorado and these kindergartners are learning a language that’s quite different from the one they were born with. Except for 50 minutes a day of English-based instruction, it’s been all Mandarin Chinese all the time for these youngsters since last August.

    US students being immersed in Chinese language

    US students being immersed in Chinese language

    “Their little brains are just stuffed full of so much information those first couple of weeks that kids get to the car and they zonk out immediately,” said Courtney Black, the Principal of Global Village Academies.

    Please read more here.

  • For all those new and new-ish programs out there

    Or those that have new teachers. This is the sort of thing parents might have to fundraise for, but it makes a huge difference in how well your program will work.

    http://www.carla.umn.edu/institutes/2015/imm_chnjpn.html

    Immersion 101 for Chinese and Japanese

    An Introduction to Immersion Teaching

    June 22–26, 2015 (Teacher Session) June 22–23, 2015 (2-day Admin Session)

    Target Audience: Pre-service and novice K–12 Chinese and Japanese immersion teachers, administrators, district personnel or policy makers, and specialist teachers in immersion schools. It is not meant for experienced immersion teachers.

    New Chinese or Japanese immersion teachers and administrators will receive a research-based introduction to the challenges, options, and issues in the unique world of immersion education (K–12). Targeted institute participants include one-way (world language) and two-way immersion educators who teach subject matter through Chinese or Japanese for 50–100% of the school day and promote continued development of English (amount of instructional time in English varies by grade level).

    On the first two days, the focus will be on issues of interest to new immersion teachers and administrators. Administrators and district personnel will have an opportunity to engage with key issues in immersion program design and implementation for character-based languages, and discuss strategies for meeting those challenges with an experienced immersion administrator. During the following three days, novice teacher participants will be introduced to effective practices that inform language and literacy-attentive curriculum development and instruction with non-cognate, character-based languages whose writing system differs from English.

    During this institute, you will:

    • Become familiar with the educational philosophy, research, and essential practices of immersion education as well as distinguishing characteristics and goals of various program models;
    • Connect with colleagues and strengthen your professional network;
    • Discuss the unique role immersion education plays in public education and explore leadership strategies for addressing immersion issues at the school, district, and community level;
    • Examine effective classroom management practices for immersion teachers new to teaching and learning in the U.S.;
    • Learn about best practice for character teaching and learning in immersion classrooms; and
    • Collaboratively create lesson plans that systematically attend to language and literacy development.

  • New Mandarin immersion program in NC

    Mandarin Chinese immersion classes to debut in Cabarrus district

    Language program will start next year at Cox Mill Elementary
    By Lisa Thornton
    Correspondent
    Posted: Friday, Feb. 20, 2015
    Rising kindergartners in Cabarrus County Schools will have the option next year to learn the majority of their lessons in Mandarin Chinese instead of English.

    The new SPLASH Mandarin Chinese Immersion Program will be the first of its kind in the county where students will spend 90 percent of their instructional day studying core subjects like math and science in Chinese.

    “It’s the best way to learn a language,” said Alison Moore, principal at Cox Mill Elementary School, where the new immersion program will be housed.

    Next year, Cox Mill, one of the largest elementary schools in the system, will offer two of its eight kindergarten classes in Chinese.

    Priority for the 48 available seats will go to Cox Mills families. The remaining slots will go into a lottery for other rising kindergartners within the county who can provide their own transportation.

    Read more here.

     

  • Immersion expands in Delaware

    Friday, January 9, 2015 – 6:39am
    World Language Immersion Expands for 2015-16 School Year

    By Kelli Steele

    Next fall, more than 2,300 kindergarten through third grade students will be enrolled in Governor Jack Markell’s World Language Expansion Initiative, as six more schools across the state begin offering students the opportunity to participate in an elementary immersion program studying either Mandarin Chinese or Spanish.

    The initiative was launched in the 2012-13 school year with four programs in three elementary schools. An annual investment of $1.9 million will support programs reaching nearly 10,000 students in K-8 immersion programs by 2022.

    Schools already participating in the initiative include: Caesar Rodney School District’s McIlvaine Early Childhood Center, Frear Elementary and Simpson Elementary (all Mandarin Chinese); Capital School District’s South Dover Elementary (Spanish); Christina School District’s Downes (Mandarin Chinese) and Pulaski (Spanish) elementary schools; Indian River School District’s Clayton and East Millsboro elementary schools (both Spanish); Red Clay Consolidated School District’s Lewis Elementary (Spanish); and Seaford School District’s Blades and West Seaford elementary schools (both Spanish).

    Please read more here.

  • Mandarin immersion in North Carolina

    At Stough Elementary in Raleigh, students learn in Mandarin

    BY SARAH BARR

    sbarr@newsobserver.comJanuary 30, 2015

    • The Wake County school system is accepting magnet applications through Thursday. For details, go to wcpss.net.

    RALEIGH — Kindergartner Ava Fletcher has been learning Mandarin for just a few months in her classroom at Stough Elementary School. But already she can write her name in Chinese characters, sing songs such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and chatter confidently in Mandarin about the books she loves and the friends she plays with.

    “I like that I get to learn and that I get to sing,” said Ava, 6, of her class.

    Eighteen students are enrolled in the Mandarin immersion program at Stough Elementary on Edwards Mill Road in Raleigh. The program began this year with students from the school’s neighborhood attendance area and will become a magnet next year, so students from across the county can apply to attend.

    The magnet application period for Wake County schools runs through Thursday.

    At Stough, kindergartners spend almost all of their day learning in Mandarin. The class has one English literacy class each day and also takes specials such as physical education and art in English.

  • Palo Alto Mandarin immersion program to expand to middle school

    Currently students just go through 5th grade and then have to wait until high school to take Mandarin again, when they enter into the same non-immerson system used for students not coming from immersion. Not ideal.

    Palo Alto school board backs Mandarin immersion program expansion

    Jordan Middle School could host new pilot program

    by Elena Kadvany / Palo Alto Weekly

    Palo Alto school board members agreed Tuesday night that expanding an elementary school Mandarin immersion program to Jordan Middle School – filling a hole in the district in Mandarin instruction between elementary and high schools — is a common-sense decision that they support.

    Staff brought a proposal to the board to begin a pilot expansion of Ohlone Elementary School’s popular Mandarin immersion program at Jordan this fall. The Ohlone program began in the fall of 2008 with 40 students and steadily grew to its targeted size of 124 by the 2012-2013 school year.

    “We have all these kids, our warm bodies, in elementary school,” said board vice president Heidi Emberling. “A bridge is needed.”

    Please read more here.