sunshine05
17th November 2010, 07:16 PM
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/magazine
sues November 19, 2010
* Magazine Cover
*
Grades 3-4
Cover Story
Learning Chinese
In The News
The Obamas Visit Asia
A Lesson for the Nation
Top Five
Top 5 Languages Spoken in the U.S.
More News
Taking Action
Do Ads Belong at School?
Learning Chinese
By Jaime Joyce
A growing number of American students are learning Chinese. As China becomes a more powerful country, Chinese speakers may have greater opportunities.
Jingjing Wu greets her American students as they enter the room. "Ni hao [nin how]," she says. In Mandarin Chinese, ni hao means "hello." For the next hour, Chinese is all that the children will hear. They are learning the language through songs, games and talking. "They pick it up really fast," Wu says. "Kids remember so much."
The students go to Lomond Elementary School, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Each week, all students in grades 1 through 5 in this school district have a one-hour Chinese class. "We're trying to generate great interest in the language," school official James J. Paces told TFK.
Other U.S. schools are too. Ten years ago, about 300 schools had Chinese programs. Today, about 1,600 schools teach Chinese. "China is becoming a real powerhouse nation," says Nancy C. Rhodes, a language expert. "It makes sense that we have young people who not only know the language, but understand the culture."
One-fifth of the world's people live in China. Its products, including clothes, toys and electronics, are sold around the world. More people speak Chinese than any other language.
Starting Young
Yinghua (yeeng-hwa) Academy is a K–8 Chinese immersion school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Instead of studying only the language itself, students learn all of their subjects in Chinese. They don't start to use English in class until they are in the second grade.
"When you're younger, it's easier to learn a different language," says fifth grader Zoë Lindberg. She has been studying Chinese since kindergarten. Experts say that it's best to start language instruction early.
Opening Doors
"If you know how to speak Mandarin Chinese, you open a huge door for yourself," says Yinghua's academic director, Luyi Lien.
In Shaker Heights, Paces agrees. "It's really important that all children receive this instruction," he says. "We'd like to do even more."
This was my 4th grader's homework. He had to answer questions about the topics listed in the article. No history lesson, no math work today. We are moving him to a direct instruction private school at the end of the year because we know he isn't learning enough. It is frustrating. This is supposed to be one of the best public schools in the country and the quality is so poor. I started quizzing him the past few weeks to test his knowledge and he wasn't even able to identify a verb. I asked his teacher when she would be teaching sentence content and structure and she said "they are already supposed to know all of that before beginning 4th grade". He has never had any school work covering any of this. I told her that he is learning this now from me. So he goes to school, gets good grades, most parents would think everything is fine, right? So wrong. He mixes up your/you're and there/their/they're too. I can envision him as an adult, not knowing how to write. But based on the teacher conference he is a top student. It really is true that schools are dumbing down our kids. I would home school, and still may do that, but he loves school so much. He loves playing football at recess and seeing his friends. I would hate to have to take that away from him, so we will try the private school. Plus my 5 year old is advanced academically in a private kindergarten now. There is no way we can send him to the public school. I just needed to vent about this. Everything in this country is so screwed up.
sues November 19, 2010
* Magazine Cover
*
Grades 3-4
Cover Story
Learning Chinese
In The News
The Obamas Visit Asia
A Lesson for the Nation
Top Five
Top 5 Languages Spoken in the U.S.
More News
Taking Action
Do Ads Belong at School?
Learning Chinese
By Jaime Joyce
A growing number of American students are learning Chinese. As China becomes a more powerful country, Chinese speakers may have greater opportunities.
Jingjing Wu greets her American students as they enter the room. "Ni hao [nin how]," she says. In Mandarin Chinese, ni hao means "hello." For the next hour, Chinese is all that the children will hear. They are learning the language through songs, games and talking. "They pick it up really fast," Wu says. "Kids remember so much."
The students go to Lomond Elementary School, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Each week, all students in grades 1 through 5 in this school district have a one-hour Chinese class. "We're trying to generate great interest in the language," school official James J. Paces told TFK.
Other U.S. schools are too. Ten years ago, about 300 schools had Chinese programs. Today, about 1,600 schools teach Chinese. "China is becoming a real powerhouse nation," says Nancy C. Rhodes, a language expert. "It makes sense that we have young people who not only know the language, but understand the culture."
One-fifth of the world's people live in China. Its products, including clothes, toys and electronics, are sold around the world. More people speak Chinese than any other language.
Starting Young
Yinghua (yeeng-hwa) Academy is a K–8 Chinese immersion school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Instead of studying only the language itself, students learn all of their subjects in Chinese. They don't start to use English in class until they are in the second grade.
"When you're younger, it's easier to learn a different language," says fifth grader Zoë Lindberg. She has been studying Chinese since kindergarten. Experts say that it's best to start language instruction early.
Opening Doors
"If you know how to speak Mandarin Chinese, you open a huge door for yourself," says Yinghua's academic director, Luyi Lien.
In Shaker Heights, Paces agrees. "It's really important that all children receive this instruction," he says. "We'd like to do even more."
This was my 4th grader's homework. He had to answer questions about the topics listed in the article. No history lesson, no math work today. We are moving him to a direct instruction private school at the end of the year because we know he isn't learning enough. It is frustrating. This is supposed to be one of the best public schools in the country and the quality is so poor. I started quizzing him the past few weeks to test his knowledge and he wasn't even able to identify a verb. I asked his teacher when she would be teaching sentence content and structure and she said "they are already supposed to know all of that before beginning 4th grade". He has never had any school work covering any of this. I told her that he is learning this now from me. So he goes to school, gets good grades, most parents would think everything is fine, right? So wrong. He mixes up your/you're and there/their/they're too. I can envision him as an adult, not knowing how to write. But based on the teacher conference he is a top student. It really is true that schools are dumbing down our kids. I would home school, and still may do that, but he loves school so much. He loves playing football at recess and seeing his friends. I would hate to have to take that away from him, so we will try the private school. Plus my 5 year old is advanced academically in a private kindergarten now. There is no way we can send him to the public school. I just needed to vent about this. Everything in this country is so screwed up.