In the News ..........................................................

The need for greater capacity in Chinese language has made headline news throughout the country and around the globe. Here is a sampling of press clippings. (For a complete archive, click here.)

Chinese-Language Classes Full, But Teachers Scarce in US
(Christian Science Monitor, March 27, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "Just as the United States has built up a huge trade deficit with China, the teacher shortage reveals America's language deficit. In China, some 200 million students are studying English through programs put in place decades ago. In the US, the sudden attention on Mandarin has exposed a serious lack of infrastructure."

Chinese Language Study Grooms Students for the Future
(Star-Ledger (NJ), March 25, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "It was standing-room-only for more than 100 educators Wednesday at an information session on Chinese-language programs at the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors headquarters in Monroe Township."

Drilling Kids in Chinese
(Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2007) | full story (Log-in Required)
Excerpt: "Pammy Boneparth already had a full schedule of AP courses and after-school sports when she decided to squeeze in a Mandarin class this school year. It has meant getting up an hour earlier to do vocabulary drills at 8 a.m. and extra homework at night.

A big factor in her decision to tackle the extra work was her father, Jones Apparel Chief Executive Peter Boneparth. He urged her to sign up for Mandarin because he sees it as a way to get an edge in a global economy increasingly dominated by China."

Classes Topple Language Barrier
(Kansas City Star, March 17, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "When Black & Veatch engineer Jack Nagle tries chatting with his Chinese co-workers in their native language, they end up laughing at his mispronunciations....“It has really bridged a gap and has helped us work together,” said Nagle, who hopes to visit China someday. “I think they appreciate me trying to learn their language. That’s probably the best benefit.”"

Mastering Mandarin, and the Future
(Contra Costa Times, March 17, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "This weekend in San Francisco, the Institute for the Teaching of Chinese Language and Culture kicks off its first national conference for K-12 Chinese education. Such programs are proliferating rapidly as the United States says "ni hao" ("hello") to Mandarin, the tongue of a billion people, the official language of mainland China and the most widely spoken language in the world."

More U.S. Schools Pin Fortune on Chinese
(Stateline.org, March 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "States are dealing with the shortage in several ways. Kentucky premiered an online Chinese course this school year, developed with the help of a teacher from China. Ohio is beginning a pilot program to train teachers to teach Mandarin to students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Arkansas has made it easier for already-certified teachers to get state certificates to teach Chinese.

Center Speaks Up for Chinese, Arabic
(Washington Times, March 13, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "Efforts to improve reading, math and science skills may be on the nation's educational forefront, but quieter efforts are being made by educators and the government to prepare children for the future by teaching them languages such as Arabic and Chinese.

As China's Power Grows, so do Chinese Programs in Public Schools
(Boston Globe, March 11, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: ""It's about jobs and a world economy," said Richard Alcorn, who spearheaded the first Chinese immersion charter school in Massachusetts with his wife, Kathleen Wang. "There are unbelievable opportunities to do business in China, so there's a need for Americans to learn the language so we're not left out."

Chinese Language Courses Sought
(Baltimore Sun, March 11, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "Chinese is only the first step for Anne Arundel schools, said Maxwell, who also hopes the schools can one day offer Japanese. He is also considering offering courses in Arabic and Korean, languages that officials in the Bush administration have said are critical to national security."

State Poised to OK School for Chinese Immersion
(Boston Globe, February 28, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "Children would spend the bulk of their school days speaking and learning core subjects in Mandarin Chinese in a proposed charter school founded by parents and educators who say children need to master Chinese to succeed in the future workplace.The state Board of Education is expected today to approve the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, where even math, science, and history would be taught in Mandarin."

New Year, Old Ways
(Boston Globe, February 16, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "A decade ago, the school had four parent-volunteers and 28 students. Today, it has 40 teachers and enrolls 210 children, ranging from preschool to high school, in language and culture classes every Sunday afternoon on the Mass Bay Framingham campus. The purpose is to help American-born, English-speaking children of Chinese immigrants bridge the gulf between their ancestry and modern US culture."

China Trip Opens Eyes, Doors to New Opportunities
(Home Town Life (MI) , February 15, 2007) | full story
Op-Ed by Tom Watkins, former Michigan State Superintendent of Schools
Excerpt: "It was for a quest for knowledge that 18 metro-area educators and business officials accepted the invitation to visit China from Hanban, the executive body of the Chinese language Council International, a non-governmental and non-profit organization affiliated with the National Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China."

Courses May Speed Spread of Chinese
(News & Observer (NC), February 12, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "North Carolina's educators agree, which is why the state is pioneering online instruction in Chinese so it will no longer be the most exotic of foreign languages taught in the state's schools. Numerous questions about the class must still be resolved, including the best way to hold useful conversations as part of an online class. Its scheduled debut this fall will be small, with maybe two dozen students."

2 St. Mary's Schools Add Chinese Classes
(Washington Post, February 1, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: ""We've recognized the importance of the Chinese language in the world, and we want our students to be able to compete on a global level," St. Mary's Superintendent Michael J. Martirano said. "But in the U.S. we do have a shortage of teachers qualified to teach Chinese, so we're absolutely thrilled to be able to host a native speaker as a teacher.""

Guilford Chosen to Teach Chinese
(Greensboro News-Record , January 25, 2007) | full story
Excerpt:"Guilford County Schools was one of three districts in North Carolina chosen to participate in the College Board’s Chinese guest teacher program. Schools in Forsyth and Union counties and 18 other states will receive teachers this month."

Say it in Chinese, American Parents Tell Their Children
(AFP, published in Manila Times and other publications, January 23, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "The trend is such that many schools across the country are unable to meet the growing demand for Mandarin Chinese, the most widely spoken language in the world but one that is just starting to make inroads in US schools."

Learn Chinese
(Colorado Springs Gazette , January 21, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "With the recent popularity, the Chinese language association is conducting a national survey to determine how many schools offer Chinese and at what grade levels. Lin said programs such as Chinook Trail ’s are rare, even with the newfound interest."

Video Games Aim to Make Difficult Language a Bit Easier
(Investors Business Daily, January 16, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "Taking a cue from much-hyped phenomena such as "World of Warcraft" and "Second Life," teachers of Mandarin — China's notoriously difficult official language — are moving from classrooms to cyberspace."

As China's Global Influence Grows, Mandarin Classes Take Off in City
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 9, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "In Milwaukee, the School of Languages added Chinese as a partial immersion program this school year. The Marshall Montessori International Baccalaureate High School is starting to build a Mandarin program. When the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Languages opens in the fall, students as young as 4 will have at least a half-hour of Chinese-language instruction daily."

Why China Wants You to Learn Chinese
(Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "What do New York, Hawaii, Kansas, California, Mexico, France, Serbia, South Korea, Egypt, Australia, Russia, and Rwanda have in common? Almost nothing, except that they now play host to the language-and-culture centers being mass-produced by the Chinese government with trademark Chinese speed and efficiency: 130 Confucius Institutes (CI) have been established in 50 countries over the past few years. The United States already has a dozen, with several more in the works. Their purpose, say Beijing officials, is to promote the Chinese language and enhance China's relationships around the world."

A Model on How to Teach Chinese
(San Jose Mercury News, January 2, 2007) | full story
Excerpt: "``The level of interest and the intensity is unprecedented. For people who are in the field, we really know,'' said Shuhan Wang, executive director of the Asia Society's Chinese Language Initiative. ``Almost on a daily basis we receive people's e-mail or phone calls saying, `We are trying to start a program. Can you help us?' '' Wang is too busy to respond to every inquiry, so she directs most questions to the Web site www.askasia.org/chinese, which includes information on starting language programs, lists schools that already offer Chinese and explains why Americans should study the language."

Mandarin Spoken Here: Educators Aim to Launch Language Programs As Early as Preschool
(Boston Globe, December 28, 2006) | full story
Excerpt: ""For years, we have been incorporating the study of China, its history and culture, into our curriculum. For us, the next step is to introduce the language. But how are we going to do it? That's the question," said Nancy Kassabian, assistant superintendent for teacher quality and professional development in Malden, who oversees the district's foreign language programs. "Given the financial pressures we face, we're going to have to be creative and think outside the box."

MD Schools Join Trend, Add Classes in Chinese
(Baltimore Sun, December 25, 2006) | full story
Excerpt: ""We have a shrinking world," said State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. "You are talking about 2.4 billion people. You are talking about an emerging economy. It is going to be an asset for people to speak Chinese."

So far, however, only a handful of school systems in the state have Chinese language courses: Baltimore City and Baltimore, Cecil, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George's counties. But there is a movement to add the language across the state and to start at an earlier age, which experts say greatly helps achieve proficiency."

Teach 'useful Mandarin' schools told
(Times (UK), December 14, 2006) | full story
Excerpt: "State schools should be encouraged to teach economically useful languages such as Mandarin, a government report will recommend today. The report, by Lord Dearing, the Government’s troubleshooter, is also expected to recommend that language teaching be offered in all primary schools. It will also call for language classes in secondary schools to be made more engaging to persuade greater numbers of pupils to take part."

Local Schools to Offer Chinese, Other Languages
(Toledo Blade, December 11, 2006) | full story
Excerpt: "The Ohio Department of Education plans to announce this week that an estimated 2,000 elementary students statewide will begin to learn Mandarin, the official language of China, starting with the 2008-2009 school year. Ohio is one of four states to receive a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish, improve, and expand Chinese language programs in grades kindergarten through six during the next several years, said J.C. Benton, the department's spokesman."

Wolcott Schools Get a Taste of China
(Waterbury Republican American, November 30, 2006) | full story
Excerpt: "Smyth and the school board have been trying to bring Chinese to local schools since February 2005, when the district applied for the Connecticut Shandong Sister School Exchange Project. As part of the program, Wolcott was assigned a sister school in Yinan, a village in Shandong. Officials from each school district were then given the opportunity to travel abroad and explore the sister school."

Non-Asians Show a Growing Interest in Chinese Courses
(New York Times, November 29, 2006) | full story
Excerpt:" For similar reasons, Chinese language classes are increasingly popular across the country in public schools. Shuhan Wang, executive director of the Asia Society’s Chinese Language Initiative, who has written about the growth of Chinese language studies in the United States, said several states — including Kentucky, Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, Kansas and West Virginia — were developing curriculums for public schools."

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