While Guilford County Schools have had their share of High Point based mis-steps in the past, this is a giant leap forward for three schools in the area.
“…Northwood Elementary, Ferndale Middle and High Point Central High schools will start offering Mandarin Chinese courses in August as part of an effort to help students compete for jobs in the global marketplace.”
My two yougest children are bilingual thanks to GCS’s excellent Spanish Immersion program path through Jones Elementary, Aycock Middle and Grimsley High and they will be more “marketable” than their peers because of it. Implementing language programs for Mandarin are going to give students a leg up as China’s economy becomes more and more dominant in the world.
11 Comments
While, I wholeheartedly believe in and support the Spanish immersion this sounds more like the Japanese classes at Brooks Global in the 90’s. IE over rated and basically useless.
cynical, I know.
Both myself and my wife work for international companies headquartered overseas. Both companies have English as their official language even though English is not the language of the headquartered company.
All employees of both companies are required to only use English in verbal and written communication.
Teaching Mandarin Chinese is definitely overrated and useless (per mick)
How about teaching English to these kids first? Just look at their EOG scores and you’ll see that there is great room for improvement in English.
sounds great, but why put these programs in schools that are having academic problems. Northwood is making AYP’s but Ferndale and HP are not. HP Central has received all types of new programs, why not spread it around. We need to focus on teaching the basics before we get all caught up in the latest and greatest new idea.
We are suppose to be one county system, but continuously all new and creative things are put into HP schools and Greensboro schools. How about treating the county schools as something other than red-headed step sisters.
Oh yea, one class does not make a successful program and you certainly can not compare it to a then very successful immerson program. BTW, Jones is having all kinds of difficulties lately. Lack of strong leadership? Lost alot of teachers assistance? Very sad, as it was a great success story.
I agree with mick and Juston [sic]
- Mandarin is spoken by only about 1.2 billion people (more than twice the number who speak English)
- The US only does over $2 trillion in trade with China each year.
- China has only the second-fastest growing economy in the world (behind Equatorial Guinea)
- China is the second largest lender of money to the US, holding over $339 billion in US Treasury Securities.
- China has surpassed the US as the world’s leading consumer.
- The US’s trade deficit with China is higher than with any other country.
So, yeah, giving the next generation of Americans an opportunity to learn Chinese is definitely useless.
Roch101 (sic) - have you looked at the EOG reading scores for these schools?
I just happen to think it’s more important to be proficient in English in this country than to be proficient in Mandarin Chinese.
Let’s teach Reading and English and after these children are proficient in this country’s native language, then we can concentrate on Chinese.
Juston, I don’t think anybody would disagree that it’s more important to learn English in America than it is to learn Chinese, but that’s not what you said. You said it was useless — a far different assertion. I really don’t understand your second comment at all. What until *these* children are proficent in English until we teach Chinese? Which children? All of them? Are you saying that nobody shold have the opportunity to learn Chinese until all students are proficient in English? What about those who are doing just fine at English, should they wait because others are behind?
Debora, you spoke very eloquently last night. I agree, we need to teach English first; when is this syetem going to realize that we have to teach these kids the basics first…and it is the basics that we’re having a hard time dealing with.
E.C.
Roch,
Same exact schpiel we heard about Japanese. All but word for word. Then again, GCS could be right about Mandarin. But GCS was undeniably wrong about Japanese. Furthermore, the Brooks program halfass taught, numbers and letters and culture once or twice a week. The kids ate some nasty dried seafood, etc. Standard stuff for a Global School setting I suppose.
I think Juston’s comments, given his and his wife’s experience, certainly deserved better than your sarcastic, crap response. My family experienced first hand a GCS “Japanese program” at Brooks and even my now very decidedly non-Japanese speaking daughter would tell you it was useless. But, why listen to people with insight and experience?
I say we line up behind Roch and GCS and go for it. The GCS Edu-crats couldnt be wrong twice could they? I mean this is a lay up right? Cmon its Chinese. All kids are going to need to speak Japa…. errrr I mean Mandarin by the time they graduate.
Afterall, it just other people’s money. Right? Besides, I like their oranges.
So, your complaint then, Mick, is not that it’s useless to learn Japanese, but that the program was insufficient?
I would go with drastically insufficient and therefore useless. It was little more than play time. Being proficient at a second language is a tremendous asset in the modern world. The Spanish Immersion program is a great example of success. But, as I stated in my first comment this sounds more like the Brooks Program than the Jones program.
Now, that being said, I would be a hard sell on a Chinese immersion program unless a local demand is there. The Spanish Immersion program was succesful in large part due to a core group of very vocal and very involved parents.
I have two children who are enrolled in the Spanish Immersion program at Jones. My oldest child is in 4th grade and my younger child is in kindergarten. In addition, my niece graduated from Jones last year and is enrolled in the SI program at Aycock.
The current leadership at Jones understands immersion and the process by which young children acquire a second language. My children have had excellent teachers and have benefitted enormously from being in a school which embraces diversity. In addition, my fourth grader’s Spanish language skills are outstanding. He has conversed comfortably with native speakers of Spanish in a variety of setting and has received many compliments from native speakers who have read his written work.
From recent medical research, we know that early, high quality foreign language programs stimulate brain development in ways that are unique. To me, that is the primary argument for making available well-planned foreign language programs in the elementary school, whether they be immersion programs or regular daily instruction in another language.
The immersion children at Jones have had very high EOG scores in both reading and math for over ten years. These are children who come from every part of Guilford County. I believe that the average reading score for ALL children at Jones in grades 3-5 last year was 91% at or above grade level. Consider that the immersion children do not receive formal English instruction until second grade and that the 91% includes six classes of children from the traditional program, many of whom come from homes that are highly impacted by poverty. We have a hardworking staff of traditional and immersion teachers who are very dedicated and do a good job every day for our children.
Additionally, because of the growth of the immersion program, Jones is not now receiving the Title I funds which the school had gotten for many years. This has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of teacher assistants and the elimination of outside tutors.
I consider Jones and its traditional and immersion programs to be great success stories.
I will add that many of the elementary foreign language programs have been directionless for some time as there has been no one at central office with background in foreign language education to work with teachers and plan curriculum. That changed in August with the hiring of a World Languages Coordinator, and I hope that her leadership, combined with the efforts of the principals at the three High Point schools, will ensure a solid start for the Chinese program.