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...

The importance of cultural connections and learning to learn ....

This article writes about bi-lingual preschools. It emphasises the advantages of learning a second language young including Mandarin Chinese. It talks about making cultural connections between languages and how learning a second language improves general literacy and awareness of how communication works.

January 3 2009

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

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.

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-...

Lee Hsien Loong and Lim Swee call for more Mandarin for children as China rises

CHINESE Singaporeans already have a strong bilingual foundation but need to motivate themselves to take their mother tongue to a higher level, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say yesterday.
Citing himself as an example, Mr Lim said he was inspired to brush up on his Mandarin only after his first trip to China in 1984, even though he had been educated in the Chinese stream for 12 years.

'I was very impressed and fascinated by how they strung their sentences and explained the most complicated ideas using the simplest of words,' said Mr Lim, who is also secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress.

While the younger generation is now schooled in English and Mandarin, Mr Lim urged them to go beyond the 'market way' of speaking the languages.

He said: 'It's not just the language we speak but we should also understand the culture and mindset behind it.'

His comments came on the back of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's call to all Singaporeans on Saturday to remain bilingual and bi-cultural so they are not caught flat-footed by the rise of China.

Half of all Chinese Singaporean children now speak English at home, making it difficult for Chinese teachers here to stimulate their interest in the subject.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community event in Holland Close, Mr Lim admitted that English was still the lingua franca in his home.

But his wife hired a tutor to improve her mother tongue and can now read articles in Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao.

As for his daughter and son - an overseas undergraduate and a Hwa Chong Institution student, respectively - Mr Lim hopes annual trips in the past five years to China will pay off one day.

'I can only encourage and create the opportunities but they themselves have to discover that source of inspiration and motivation.'

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.”

KEVIN Rudd has called on Australians to .. make their nation the most Asia-literate country in the West.

In a major speech in Singapore, the Prime Minister declared his dream of Australian children learning Chinese or Japanese and reaching out to the region.

"I am committed to making Australia the most Asia-literate country in the collective West," he announced.

Labor went to the last election promising $62 million for new Asian language courses in schools.

But Mr Rudd's new promise raises the commitment and there is sure to be a push for extra funding.

Mr Rudd last night said the time had come for Australians to be more active in Asia.

"My vision is for the next generation of Australian businessmen and women, economists, accountants, lawyers, architects, artists, film-makers and performers to develop language skills which open their region to them," he said.

The call came as Mr Rudd tried to rev up his plan for a new regional body called the Asia Pacific Community.

Mr Rudd outlined the proposal two months ago and has been selling it during his recent tour of China, South Korea and Singapore.

The Opposition have been scathing of the plan, calling it a flop, and there has been no groundswell of major support from Asian countries.

But Mr Rudd has hit back, saying there are no major "roadblocks" to the idea and saying it was a long-term project.

The speech came after Mr Rudd and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday signed a new defence deal for greater cooperation between the two nations.

Singapore is due to soon send a medical team to work with Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Earlier in the day, Mr Rudd opened a new junior section of Australian International School Singapore where he spoke to children about the value of Asian languages.

Mr Rudd speaks Mandarin, which he uses often when touring in the region and did it again yesterday at a press conference.

It was Rudd's first prime ministerial visit to Singapore and he has now visited most of the major nations in Asia - including China and Japan twice.

Children stuck with English only langauge skills will find themselves less valuable in the job marketplace

Security Language Initiative" to "dramatically increase the number of Americans learning, speaking and teaching critical-need foreign languages. Foreign language skills are essential to engaging foreign governments and peoples, especially in critical world regions, to promote understanding, convey respect for other cultures, and encourage reform. These skills are also fundamental to the economic competitiveness and security interests of the nation."

Sounds like there's something on which Bush and Obama agree: Nothing could be more dangerous for an America already losing its edge in the world than to teach its children to disdain other languages and distrust other cultures, to skip geography, to forget about travel abroad. If the Chinese, the Indians, the Brazilians and the Russians are busy learning English so they can do business with us, doesn't it behoove us to learn their languages, too? (In China, all elementary school students must study English.) At a time when the West is threatened by Arab jihadists, don't we need many more intelligence agents and soldiers who speak Arabic?

While activists alarmed about illegal immigration have spent the last decade supporting "English-only" codes and decrying the loss of cultural touchstones associated with western Europe, the actual harm to the nation lies in our refusal to acknowledge the growing economic competitiveness of other countries. South Koreans aren't shunning English. It's one more weapon in their arsenal as they advance in commerce, engineering and the sciences.

So the next time you hear some smart-mouth pundit acting as though foreign language fluency is a sign of decadence or an unbecoming Frenchy-ness, don't fall for it. That pundit likely has a passport. If he has college-age kids, he has probably worked hard to help them study abroad.

Do as he does, not as he says. Enroll your kids in Spanish or Russian or Mandarin classes.

"[At] no time in the history of Chinese international schools has there been such a dynamic and explosive growth

of international schools as what’s happening here in China right now," Frerking said.Students enrolled in these facilities receive educations equivalent to elite private schools in the United States and Europe in part because they are modeled on predominately British and American curriculums, offering both International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP) programs. Students also generally come from affluent families who emphasize the importance of education.

International schools in Asia mostly began as small facilities intended for the children of diplomats or missionaries. However, as economic expansion attracted multinational businesses to Asia, the number of students in international schools rose dramatically. These facilities have now evolved into centers for expatriate communities and are vital tools for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).