Read the programme. Come to learn more about teaching Chinese in primary and secondary schools.

How to introduce Chinese?
How to teach Chinese at primary and secondary level.
Curriculum development.
What is different about Chinese and does it matter.
The importance of correcting pronunicaiton early.
Oracy and literacy - gaining a balance.

http://www.brightoncollege.org.uk/documents/National%20Chinese%20Teachin...

How to create a modern K-12 Mandarin Chinese Language Program /Curriculum?

The Portland Public Schools K-12 Mandarin Chinese Language
Developing successful programs and curriculums for children learning Chinese is a challenge. Here is how Oregon do it.
For more see their website http://casls.uoregon.edu/ppsflagship/en/index.php

Program strives to create a sustainable and replicable model in Mandarin Chinese language instruction in the United States. Our goal is for all students to become bilingual and bi-literate while aspiring to achieve high-level academic performance and deeper cultural awareness.

The PPS K-12 Chinese program is structured on the total language learning approach incorporating three key elements:

Content-Based Instruction: Regular academic subjects such as math, science, social studies, are taught in Mandarin Chinese.

Explicit Language Instruction: Teaching language and literacy for communicative purposes.

Experiential Learning Practices: Students engage in real and meaningful life experiences requiring them to use their language and cultural skills (i.e. study abroad, summer immersion camp, etc).

Hemel Hempstead Chinese School for children receives national QiSS (Ofsted / DCSF) award

A Chinese school has received a national award for the quality of its teaching.
The Dacorum Chinese School Association in Hemel Hempstead, that teaches Mandarin from beginner's level to A level, was praised for the variety of learning it offers.

It organises Tai Chi classes and Chinese art activities, cultural events and trips.

The school has now received a Quality in Study Support (QiSS) award for its efforts, part of an initiative by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

The scheme praises and rewards activities offered to children and young people outside their normal lesson time.

The Chinese school, which boasts 60 students aged five to 75, received the award at County Hall, Hertford, in December.
24 December 2008

6 themes of understanding including Communication and Languages replaces the emphasis on individual subjects

The new approach ensures children have their imagination sparked in a way relevant to the real world. Children will not only do maths but know which sum to do in which situation. Context matters. Children already well versed in ICT will use the power of technology even more. The feel of the new curriculum will be one of a 'holistic education.'
8th December 2008

Hanban & American teachers learn from each other to create a sustainable supply of Chinese teachers for children

The shortage of teachers for children learning Mandarin Chinese is an issue. Hanban supplies teachers on exchange programmes but long term Chinese teachers living in the West need to be trained in Western pedagogy.

In Oak Creek, Wisconsin, local teachers are learning to take over from Hanban teachers having completed teacher training locally.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/35265114.html

Alice Boucher Elementary School offers Mandarin Chinese

Being bilingual will give children a better understanding of linguistics, give them a more worldly view in a changing international world and allow them to receive better jobs in the future, the panelists said.

"The benefits of immersion are great. Our immersion students usually do as well - but mostly better - than regular (education) students on standardized tests,"

About two dozen parents interested in enrolling their children in French, Spanish and the new Mandarin Chinese immersion programs attended the informational session Thursday at the Clifton Chenier Center.

Starting next year, Alice Boucher Elementary School will start offering Mandarin Chinese Immersion, which experts said could put children at a strong advantage in the future as China emerges as an economic leader.

Chinese for children features in North Carolina Innovation Day

Schools participate in Innovation Day
Three schools in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district will take part in a statewide Innovation Day program on Tuesday.

Carrboro Elementary School will be showcasing its Spanish Dual Language Program. Glenwood Elementary School will showcase its Mandarin Chinese Dual Language Program. McDougle Elementary School will highlight its SWIM approach to Positive Behavior Support.

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.”