Highlighting Black Administrators Encouraging Mandarin Language Learning!

As the school year starts we wanted to take some time to acknowledge the growing leadership of African American administrators in schools with active Mandarin language programs. We also want to acknowledge the significant accomplishments of Sean Wilson as he transitions from the International High School of Louisiana to the head of school at the International School of Louisiana. While Mandarin is not a language in at his new school they do offer Spanish and French immersion programs for students at their tuition-free campus. We hope to partner with Sean Wilson in the near future and continue to thank him for his progress and support in assisting and promoting Mandarin language learning for Black youth at the International School of Louisiana.

We are excited to highlight that Jamila Dugan is beginning the school year as the Vice Principal for Yu Ming Charter School in Oakland, CA. . Ms. Dugan is currently a graduate student at the University California, Berkeley. She is excited about her opportunity to assist families, improve and enhance outcomes and she has been a great partner with PAASSC. We are excited to highlight Jamila and look forward to continue working closely with her and Yu Ming throughout the school year. Jamila was born and raised in East Oakland with an incredible passion for education driven by social justice. She previously served as the Director of Professional Development at Yu Ming Charter School and also teaches English to first and second graders in the Yu Ming immersion program. Previous to her current role, Jamila was both a New Teacher Coach and Director of Teacher Learning at Teach For America Oakland. She has taught several grades in early elementary in Washington D.C. and holds a masters degree in Early Childhood Education from George Mason University. She comes to the LEEP program with a thirst for knowledge and interest in equity issues in education and beyond.

I am always excited to highlight the many accomplishments of Jolynn Washington, Principal at Jose Ortega Elementary School. As principal of Jose Ortega Elementary School, JoLynn Washington emphasizes a culture of service. Ms. Washington initiated the Mandarin Immersion program to enrich the learning experiences of the diverse population of students. Jose Ortega also offers students the opportunity to participate in community garden and greening projects, as well as various social awareness drives. Principal Washington ensures her students have access to after school programs and extracurricular activities such as a monthly book club. Her effective leadership is evident in the vast progress Jose Ortega has made on both an academic and community level. She obtained the teacher of the year award for the 2010/2011 school year.

Marquita Hart is the Principal at Yu Ying Elementary School in San Francisco. Ms. Alexander has celebrated many incredible firsts during her tenure at Yu Ying. Most recently she organized an opportunity for the children at her school to participate in official White House ceremonies to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan to Washington, DC. Over 100 Yu Ying students representing Kindergarten, third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade will take part in various ceremonies throughout the two day state visit. These events include presenting flowers upon arrival to the Chinese First Family at Andrews Air Force, participating at the arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn, and performing Chinese songs and dances for U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan at the Washington National Zoo.

Willie Adams is the Middle School Dean of Student Life, and also works in our three divisions as the K-12 Diversity Counselor. Head Royce does not offer an Immersion program but they do offer their students the unique opportunity of selecting Mandarin as a second language as early as kindergarten. In his role as Dean of Student Life, Willie will work to strengthen our service learning efforts in the Middle School, advise the Middle School student government activities, and join the MS deans group working closely with Middle School Head Carol Swainson. Willie is no stranger to Head-Royce, having served as a Lower School Intern for two years and having played a significant role in strengthening our diversity efforts for the last several years as a member of our Diversity Committees. Willie received his B.A. in Film and Media Studies from UC Irvine, has worked at the Katherine Burke School, the Aim High Program, and the Mills College Upward Bound Program. Willie is a member of the Heads Up Advisory Board and is also the Dean of Students for the Heads Up Program.

Over the course of the year I will continue to take efforts to highlight African American administrators that are supporting Black youth as the learn Mandarin. We encourage you to share ideas and strategies with one another. We hope parents will identify Black administrators so that we can also highlight them on our site.

Open Enrollment for 4th Graders @ Yu Ming School

Second Enrollment Period for Fourth Grade

We have exhausted our wait list for Fourth Grade and will have a couple more openings for academic year 2014-15 so we are beginning second enrollment period for applicants entering Fourth Grade. Fourth grade classes begin on Monday, August 18, 2014.

The enrollment period ends Thursday, August 14, 2014 at 3pm.

Download the application here.

Students entering Yu Ming at Fourth Grade need to have a level of Mandarin proficiency similar to the class they are entering (e.g., equivalent of 4 years of Mandarin immersion education.) Students are assessed for their Mandarin proficiency (reading, writing and speaking) prior to being offered a slot from the waitlist.

All applications must be received at Yu Ming by 3pm on Thursday, August 14, 2014. We encourage you to hand deliver the application. We can also accept applications by mail but not by email or fax.

We will hold a random public drawing on Friday, August 15, 2015 to determine the waitlist order of applicants applying at this time. We anticipate being able to offer slots to applicants selected in the drawing that afternoon, so that they can begin classes on Monday, August 18. Details about the random public drawing will be posted on the Yu Ming website 72 hours prior.

4年級第二次招生期間

育明現已開放對於八月份即將升4年級的小朋友的招生。此招生期間從現在開始 (8月5日) 至2014年8月14日星期四下午3點截止。所有的報名表必須在8月14日下午3點以前收到。我們建議您親自將報名表送至育明學校。我們接受以郵寄方式收到的報名表，電郵或傳真除外。請從此處下載報名表.

目前所有4年級的候補學生已被入取。我們預計在2014-2015學年度會有一些空缺。申請4年級的學生須具備有相當能力的中英文程度。在從候補名單中給予入取機會之前，報名學生將經過中英文鑑定已確認其中文能力（讀，寫和説）。

我們將在8月15日舉辦一場公眾抽選以決定在候補名單之順序。我們預計能夠在8月15日下午提供插班，讓他們可以開始在週一，8月18日,開始上課。公眾抽選詳情即將在72小時之前公佈至育明網站。

SFUSD Middle and High School Chinese Program

Mandarin Institute SFUSD STARTALK 2014

Middle and High School Chinese Program

Middle & High School Chinese Summer Program

The Mandarin Institute and SFUSD in conjunction with STARTALK will offer a unique opportunity for Middle and High School students with 1-2 years of formal Chinese study to immerse themselves in a culturally rich and academically intensive Mandarin program. STARTALK funding enables us to provide this program tuition free to a limited number of students!

Classes are held in the heart of Chinatown at the beautiful campus of San Francisco City College. The program includes exposure to Chinese culture, activities (including calligraphy / brush painting), field trips, daily lunch excursions into Chinatown, and an hour each day of direct one-to-one conversations via Skype you’re your own personalized language instructor in China.

Apply if you want to:

· Strengthen your Mandarin skills

· Gain confidence speaking Mandarin

· Mandarin/Cantonese immersion students welcome

Why Should You Enroll?

· Interact daily with your personal Chinese tutor in China

· Experience Chinese cultural activities with expert instructors

· Put yourself on an accelerated track to AP level Chinese!

Program Details

Program: Middle School Chinese II

High School Chinese II

High School Chinese III

Date: July 7-25, 2014

Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Location: City College San Francisco, Chinatown Campus

808 Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

REGISTER TODAY!

Space is limited. Only a few spots left. Application Deadline May 9, 2014

Finding Balance for my Black girls in a Chinese Heritage Program!

One of the many things that I have enjoyed about my daugthers’ participation in a Chinese Immersion program has been the strong heritage component. It’s hard to have your child in a Chinese Immersion program in San Francisco and not be immersed in the culture and folklore of Chinese traditions. Our school barely celebrates Valentine’s Day in February due to their focus on Chinese New Year so there is no celebration of Black History Month at all. We have really embraced and enjoy our daughters having exposure to Chinese culture and on our own have tried to add in spoonfuls of Black history here and there. But our school does not provide our girls with enough around their culture and history. I knew that going in and that was one of the reasons that I started PAASSC. But I did not major in African studies and I am not well versed in African History so that component has been missing for my girls.

My oldest daughter was recently invited to join Young, Gifted and Black and I am so excited I’m practically doing cartwheels at home. My husband is a little reserved. Young, Gifted and Black is a national program and I am so excited that they have a flagship program here in Oakland, CA. The “application” process is amazing. They first invite your child to observe the program, your child is interviewed by another youth in the program, and your child is then asked to recite a poem by an African American author. Kiah is learning The Blues by Langston Hughes. My daughter came home and said “Mommy, they were all brown!” My younger daughter is a constant performer at heart and seemed to really enjoy the spoken word aspect of the program. She said “Mommy it was really loud but that was good. It was really good!”

Her dad took her for her interview. He said that they were discussing the importance of Assata Shakur. Thank God my husband has known me since undergrad because let’s just say it is no mistake that he did not find the YGB program. We had a long talk last night about Black history, Black pride, and the idea of raising a “militant” child. Because yes, most mainstream Black families struggle with consciousness. We touched and agreed and determined that Young, Gifted and Black is the right next step for our daughters. We love that the program encourages an internal strength for our child. We like that it will develop a strong sense of identity, history and pride for our daughters. Additionally, I want my daughters to love themselves but I also want my daughters to love and appreciate Black boys. With a society that so viciously attacks them I am so excited that she will have such beautiful and intelligent group of young Black men as mentors and role models. Our initial interest in Chinese was solely the language we were not even thinking about the implications of introducing our child into a Chinese Heritage program. We are excited that our daughter is learning so much about Chinese culture but want to make sure that there is a balance.

With the strong education YGB will provide my children in Black history, Black consciousness and social justice I am less concerned about what their Chinese Immersion school is unable to provide.

Tips for Planning for a Successful Parent-Teacher Conference in Dual Language Programs

Repost from Spanglishbaby.com

I cannot believe it is that time of the year already! Parent-Teacher Conferences are just around the corner. It seems like it was yesterday when I was running around trying to set up my classroom and getting ready to start the new school year. But, time flies. It is already November and before we know it, a new calendar year is upon us.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are a great opportunity to check on your child’s progress and mastery of academic standards. With Common Core implementation already rolling in many schools, it is always helpful to be proactive and know what the new changes/expectations in curriculum are. For example, with the new standards, there is a major emphasis on reading informational text (not just narrative), writing opinion pieces, and supporting both reading and writing with textual evidence. When it comes to math, children are now spending more time on major concepts; therefore, giving children the opportunity for more practice and understanding.

So, do you know what specific questions to ask during this precious time? Conferences do not last more than 20 minutes. Actually on average parents and teachers meet for about 15 minutes.

Below I have compiled a few tips to help you navigate this time with ease and more importantly – success:

Have a discussion with you child prior to attending the conference. Ask him/her about his/her academic progress. What are the areas he/she feels successful? What areas have room for improvement? As a parent, you want to make sure you walk into the conference informed of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Educators WANT parents to be involved. If you have an honest understanding of where your child stands, it will be a much more productive conversation

Draft a list of questions you want to ask. If you have them written down, chances are that you will ask them.
- Ask about your child’s reading level and what that means
- Is his/her reading at grade level?
- What about your child’s fluency and expression?
- Homework. How long should it take to complete?
- Mathematics. How is your child performing? (Fact fluency, number sense, geometry, problem solving, etc.)
- How is your child’s writing? Is he/she writing fluently?
- What genres is he/she most successful and what genres should he/she spend more time practicing?

Leave the conference with a plan of action. Discussing progress is great, but what next? Make sure you discuss a plan of action with your child’s teacher. What do you and him/her commit to do and how is progress going to be determined? If your child needs help mastering multiplication tables (for example), what are you going to do at home to help?

Request to see work samples. Your child’s teacher will most likely have plenty of samples for you to see. But, what does an exemplary paper look like? What should your child be aiming at? I am not saying this for you to compare your child to others, but to rather see where he/she should be

Assume always the best intentions. This applies to every aspect of our lives. Assume positive intent and keep in mind that teachers wan the best for your child

Give your child feedback about the conference. Children want to hear how they are doing. Do not forget to share the major points of your conference with your child

The truth is that I could draft an infinite list, but ‘keeping it short and sweet’ is always a plus. Remember that you and your child’s teacher are a team – together you can work great things.

Language of Choice

More and more, Americans are learning a second language and Chinese is emerging as a language of choice.

City Terrace Elementary School is within walking distance of the campus of California State University, Los Angeles and educates students from Pre-K to Grade 5. The Mandarin-English Dual Language Program began with full day Kindergarten in 2007-2008 and recently expanded to the 5th grade. Over 90% of the students at City Terrace are Latino and many are bilingual when enrolling at City Terrace allowing for an amazing trilingual educational experience.

Mandarin Immersion Schools