Adopts an Immersion Model for Mandarin Acquisition.
Barnard Mandarin Chinese Magnet School Adopts an Immersion Model for Mandarin Acquisition.
Earlier this year, the Barnard Mandarin Chinese School community met with nationally known language acquisition expert, Dr. Mimi Met, and representatives from the SDUSD Language Acquisition Department to discuss various language acquisition models. After learning about the advantages of the various models, it was decided that Barnard Mandarin Chinese Magnet School will adopt an immersion model for Mandarin acquisition starting next school year. The immersion model will begin with next year's kindergardeners and first graders.
80% model for incoming Kindergardeners (80% of the curriculum will be delivered in Mandarin)
70% model for 1st graders (70% of the curriculum will be delivered in Mandarin)
This is an exciting step for Barnard as it increases the school's ability to equip students with a competitive skill set for the 21st century.
We are very proud of our Mandarin program and feel fortunate to have a K-12 Mandarin program in our cluster. This language program is in keeping with the shared vision of our cluster to prepare our students for the 21st century.
Why Mandarin Chinese?
- The rise of China presents new economic, political and social realities that demand greater U.S. engagement at every level. As the foundation of that engagement, we urgently need to raise the number of Americans who can demonstrate a functional proficiency in Chinese.
- China ’s tremendous economic growth creates new opportunities and challenges for U.S. businesses. Between 1978 and 2002, China's annual GDP growth reached 9.4%, three times the world's average, and in recent years (2001-2004) China accounted for one third of global economic growth.
- China is an immense market for American goods and services, and a vital supplier to American manufacturers and consumers. U.S. trade with China exceeded $245 billion in 2004 (second only to trade with Canada and Mexico).
- China ’s political importance in the Asia-Pacific region is broadly acknowledged and, particularly since 9/11, its help has been sought on difficult issues like North Korea and terrorism. Collaboration with China is increasingly deemed essential for solving a range of global issues, from nuclear proliferation to the environment, from currency exchange to trade laws.
- As the most enduring world civilization, China has a major international cultural presence, in literature and cuisine, in music and film, dance and art, religion and philosophy, drawing on its tremendous heritage to enrich our present.
- An official language of the United Nations, Chinese is the most widely spoken first language in the world, extending beyond the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan to Indonesia , Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, to the Philippines, and to Mongolia.
- Chinese will top English as the most-used language on the Internet by 2007, according to forecasts by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
- In the United States the Asian and Pacific Islander population is projected to grow 213 percent, from 10.7 million to 33.4 million, in the next 50 years, a substantial demographic shift. Their share of the nation’s population will double, from 3.8 percent to 8 percent.
