Crescent School Okalhoma starts after school program for kids learning Chinese

18 November 2008
NEWS OK Oklahoman

With an eye cast toward the future, Crescent School officials hope a new program started this year will give their children the skills they need to compete in the 21st century.

The district has started an after-school program to teach first-grade students how to read and speak Chinese.

Three days each week, a teacher from the University of Oklahoma comes to Crescent to teach the children basic expressions — hello, goodbye — and other familiar words such as mother and father.

Eric Wood, a first-grade teacher at Crescent Elementary, assists during the afternoon programs. Wood said the young students have picked up the language with ease.

Garrison Sullivan, 6, said he likes the courses because he gets to "learn a new language.”

When asked whether learning Chinese was hard, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought about a response.

"No,” Garrison said. "It’s easy.”

Learning Early, Career Advancement, Teacher Scarcity, Mandarin across the World

English Dethroned as World Language?
By Laura Robertson
CBN News Reporter
November 6, 2008

CBNNews.com - English is the most spoken language worldwide, but it might not be for long.

Millions are calling Mandarin Chinese the language of the future.

One group of pre-kindergarten students in Washington, D.C. take the same classes as thousands of other students nationwide.

CHINA CONNECTION:
Learning Chinese from the Comfort of Your Computer
The big difference? When the boys and girls at the at the Yu Ying Public Charter School finish eighth grade, they will be fluent in Mandarin Chinese as well as English.

"One day they're learning everything through English," Sarah Harris, the school's principal said. "One day they're learning everything in Chinese, so it's a very compelling model for a lot of parents."

Learning Early

Harris said there are many advantages to learning Chinese at an early age.

"Children really do soak up languages when they're young," she explained. "They don't have a lot of preconceived ideas about language, so they really come to it in an open way. We've seen children just soaking up the language and applying it in more and more contexts."

According to school founder Mary Shaffner, it's not just the students who want to learn Chinese.

"We are going to start Chinese classes for our parents, which many, many parents have been chomping at the bit for," she said.

With China's expanding global influence, millions are eager to learn the language. In 2004, only about five thousand U.S. students between kindergarten and twelfth grade took Chinese. Last year that number had grown to nearly 50,000.

Mandarin Worldwide

It's not just happening in the nation's capital. By 2010, it's estimated more than 100 million people worldwide will be studying Chinese as a second language.

Many are learning at one of the more than 200 Confucius Institutes established by the Chinese government. The Insitutes are now in 66 countries advancing the goal of spreading the Chinese language and culture.

In Manila at the Ateneo de Manila University, Director Dr. Ellen Palanca said she believes the popularity of these institutes is a sign of China's development.

"Once a country becomes more developed then it tries to promote its culture and language through such an arm," Palanca explained.

More than 2,000 students have gone through the program since it started two years ago.

Former student Pia Lim Castillo uses Chinese in her job as a food and travel writer. She said the learning experience helped her connect with her Chinese heritage.

"It's my identity. I have to find my identity, not only as a person, but the culture I belong to," he said.

Career Advancer

Many believe the ability to speak Chinese will advance their careers.

"I see value in being able to converse in Mandarin with Chinese clients," Attorney Kenneth Chua said. "Since more and more Chinese have been coming to the Philippines, I see more of a market for a lawyer who can speak Chinese."

Paula Leal, a reporter for Spanish News Agency in Manila attributes the growth of Chinese language learning to China's growing economic opportunities and global significance.

"It is the country of the future," she said. "Because of that it is so important to learn Chinese, because a lot of people are talking' Chinese right now."

Thirteen-year-old Pearl Parel started learning the language when she was just eight years old while on a business trip with her father in Taiwan.

"He didn't have an interpreter so he asked me if I could study so I could be his interpreter," she said.

She and many of her classmates at the Quezon City Christian Academy in Manila say that knowing Chinese will be essential after they graduate.

"Learning Chinese will help me in my future career, because my father wants me to be an interpreter and I want to learn more about Chinese culture," Parel said.

Fifteen-year old Ardenne Chuat agrees.

"Learning Chinese right now would be a good opportunity for applying for jobs here in the Philippines," Chuat explained.:China is now expanding and people would want to have employees who know how to speak the main language of China.

Teaching Mandarin

Half way around the world in Panama, one legislator even proposed mandating Mandarin Chinese in public schools. But Fermin Tomas Chan, head of theSun Yat-Sen School where all students study Chinese, doesn't think the legislation will pass.

"It's so hard to get teachers to teach Chinese outside of China," Chan said. "If you want to make it nationwide, it's going to be almost impossible to teach. We have problems with English in Panama. What about Chinese?"

Despite the difficulty finding qualified teachers, the school has a long wait list because so many Panamanians want to learn Chinese.

Chan and many of his colleagues say that "in 10 years, Mandarin will be as important worldwide as English."

Others doubt that Chinese speakers will outnumber English speakers any time soon.

Dr. Palanca said she believes Chinese could possibly replace English "in the far future, maybe 50 years from now."

But she admitted that it's more likely that Chinese "will most likely not replace English, but there's a possibility that it can be on par with the English language as an international language."

Whether or not Chinese does become the main international language, people worldwide are excited to learn.

New International Immersion School in Atlanta

East Point may soon boast the greatest proportion of multi-lingual youngsters in the Atlanta area, once the Little Linguists International Preschool opens in the south side city.

Jackie Ubiles, the school’s founder and business manager, told GlobalAtlanta it will offer Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese classes to children under 6 years old when it opens Nov. 3.

It will operate as a full-time preschool, accepting infants as young as four weeks old. The school opens at 6:30 a.m. and will remain open until 6 p.m. to accommodate working parents.

Ms. Ubiles decided to open the school after she sent her 3-year-old to a traditional preschool and found he was reluctant to speak both English and Spanish, which her family uses at home, after school.

She added that studies show it is easier for people to learn different languages when they are very young, and some parents of the 20 children currently enrolled are happy to have a solid preschool option.

“I want my child to be multi-lingual, but the programs for children under the age of 3 are few and far between, especially full-time programs,” Ms. Ubiles said. “It’s hard just to have a quality preschool program, for many of our parents it’s an added plus that it’s multi-lingual.”

Parents in Vancouver campaign for a Mandarin bi-lingual programme in the public school sector from September 2009

Teach our Kids Mandarin say the parents of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. They even have their own website www.mandarin for schools.org. Read about their efforts and plans.

THEIR VISION:
To give our children the gift of bilingualism through our public schools

In many parts of the world, multilingualism is the norm rather than the exception. For example, most children in Switzerland speak several languages. Despite BC’s broad multicultural makeup, there are very limited opportunities in the public school system for second language learning at the elementary school level. Although French Immersion is available, it is in high demand and there are waiting lists. It is our vision to bring formal teaching of other second languages in addition to French to the forefront of our public education system.

http://mandarinforbcschools.org

http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=e37dc335-0135-...

Mandarin Chinese for young children does not show on No Child left Behind reports

Are we leaving any students behind?
Educators say federal mandates needs revisions

By Jessica Jordan
jjordan@gainesvilletimes.com

POSTED Sept. 7, 2008 12:30 a.m.

Excerpt reads:

Teachers' creativity and gifted students left behind?
May (principal of Chestnut Mountain Elementary) also said the federal mandate has changed the way schools operate in recent years. She said while teachers are taking a more professional instructional approach under the law, it's also stifling their creative freedom in the classroom in favor of high-stakes testing.

"There used to be more of a focus on the art of teaching, now it's more of a focus on the science of teaching," she said.

While Hall County educators said the school system focuses on the whole student, including character development and academic rigor, as well as on a student passing the CRCT or the Georgia High School Graduation Test, Schofield said there's still a group of students nationwide who aren't getting the attention they deserve in the classroom: "the run of the mill" and gifted students.

"I think it's going to be a huge mistake in all kinds of issues, the most fundamental being the very competitiveness of the United States as a nation," Schofield said. "The children that sit in our classrooms could cure cancer ... and are the very children that aren't getting very much attention."

Schofield said he's concerned No Child Left Behind's emphasis on test scores has encouraged school systems nationwide to forsake class time in foreign language, communication skills and technology, all skills he considers vital for students to compete in the 21st century workplace.

"We can offer Mandarin Chinese ... for little children. It won't show up on a No Child Left Behind report ... and quite honestly, that's the reason why a lot of districts have abandoned and not gone down those roads," Schofield said.

Denver public schools plan for Mandarin Chinese

At two schools, kids as young as prekindergarten students dive into learning Chinese. Parents say they are on track for global success. Global Village and Denver International have had a positive experience introducing Mandarin Chinese.

Denver public schools plan for immersion Chinese in a district facility in the Park Hill area. Ohio and Oregonhave K-16 Chinese programs.

We cannot have global citizens that are mono-lingual says language consultant Myriam Wet from Washington D.C.

New Zealand opens opportunities for children to learn Mandarin Chinese

In 2010 all 7-10 year old children will have the opportunity to learn another language including Mandarin Chinese.

Learning a language brings positive benefits

More New Zealanders may be speaking another language in the years to come, thanks to an upcoming initiative that will require a second language to be offered to all students in Years 7-10. The new curriculum, which comes into effect in 2010 in New Zealand schools, states that all children should receive the opportunity to learn another language. Promoting a multi-lingual society is a priority for the government as it benefits international trade and the economy, and promotes positive interaction between cultures in our communities. Many educators also believe that learning another language can increase the potential for success in other subjects at school.

West Auckland resident Tom Essex was introduced to Chinese, Japanese and German as an 11 year-old at Te Atatu Intermediate School, and decided to continue studying the Chinese language at Rutherford High School. "I guess I had a bit of fascination with China, so I decided on Chinese," he says. Although widely reputed to be a difficult language to learn, Tom says it "wasn't too difficult" because he started learning at a young age. He says that although his parents don't speak a second language, they were very supportive and this was something that helped his progress.

Learning a second language is beneficial for a number of reasons, says Tom.
Not only does it help people become more aware of the outside world, but it also develops empathy for other cultures.

“It broadens your horizons and opens up a whole new section of society that you might not previously have associated with,” he says, “and in the case of Chinese, I've suddenly gained access to nearly a third of the world's population.”

Nick Jr. extends commitment to the preschool animated television series Ni Hao, Kai-lan.

Ni Hao, Kai-lan in particular, centers itself around a little Asian-American girl named Kai-lan and her everyday adventures through playtime and self-discovery with her many animal friends. Debuting in early February of this year, the preschool animation has provided the Nick Jr. block with an abundance of creative diversity, a welcomed adjustment to the visual and storytelling aesthete that its young viewers so desperately crave.

"Kai-lan has charmed her way into the lives of preschoolers who tune in to experience her vibrant world which is infused with Mandarin language and Chinese culture," Brown Johnson, President of Animation, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, commented. "Ni Hao, Kai-lan furthers Nick Jr.'s ongoing commitment to developing diverse programming with characters who reflect today's preschoolers."

Children learning Chinese at Hove Park Primary School win competition..

Students' Mandarin leaves rivals red-faced
By Ruth Morgan
Argus Lite 26 May 2008

William Page, 12, shows off his Chinese skills at Hove Park School. Youngsters left their rivals tongue-tied to scoop a top prize at a national language competition.

While many students may turn pale at the difficult task of learning another language, students from Hove Park School showed off their skills to secure a prize at the National Chinese Mandarin Reading contest.

The event was held at the University of Westminster and was entered by more than 26 schools, colleges and universities from across the country.

The six competitors from Hove Park had only been learning the complex language for eight months but managed to beat off competition from 23 other institutions including a University of Sussex team to come third in the non-native speakers category.

The children read out poetry, prose and stories at the event to take home the coveted trophy.Of the 26 institutions that took part, only six were able to walk away with a prize.
In addition to Hove Park's success, pupil Nicola Burt, 14, added to the team triumph, winning a third place individual prize.

Many parents are looking for Chinese classes for their children. In response to this increased demand.....

'With the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing only a few months way, many parents are clamoring for a way to learn Chinese or are desperately looking for Chinese classes for their children. This is for good reason. Not only is Mandarin Chinese the most spoken language in the world, China is the most rapidly developing economy in the world. Thus far, the most difficult aspect of learning Chinese is finding someone to teach it. Few schools and universities offer Mandarin Chinese, and when they do offer the classes, they fill to capacity quickly. In response to this increased demand, Petite Ambassadors Language School announced today that the school will be expanding its current offering to include a Chinese program that will reach students of all ages, including adults. The school is the first Private Language Education Program of its kind in North Florida. Chinese classes will begin October 15, 2008 and will be taught by Hsiu-yu (Ann) Yang, M.Ed., and Beijing Native.'
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4PRN/is_2008_May_19/ai_n25435109

see Petite Ambassadors School in Florida
http://www.petiteambassadors.com/