Hao Mama 好妈妈

As I’ve mentioned before, My Panda Paws offers a variety of books, DVDs and other products to help children learn Chinese. Just in time for back-to-school, they have generously offered a 15% discount for readers of Hao Mama through September 3. Just enter Haomama at checkout. Enjoy!

For many of us who live in the Bay Area, southern California can seem like a foreign country. I was reminded of this while reading about the debates now raging in Hacienda Heights over funding for a Chinese language program in a middle school there. (Read more about the debate here.) In short, opponents claim the program, which is partially funded by the Chinese government, will brainwash children with Communist dogma. In a way that only he can, Jon Stewart takes on the debate:

Through hundreds of Confucius Institutes at schools overseas, the Chinese government has been spreading its soft power through the teaching of Chinese language and culture. Now, a program called Confucius Classroom, co-sponsored by the Asia Society, which funds Chinese language programs in K-12 schools, has sparked outrage among some who don’t want American students learning what they assume will be Communist propaganda. Near Los Angeles, the community of Hacienda Heights is deeply divided over the issue:

Activist Kai Chen and former Hacienda La Puente Unified Superintendent John Kramar reviewed the materials for the district’s new Confucius Classroom on Friday.

“That’s part of Chinese infiltration into this country and the corruption of the political culture of America,” Chen said of the classroom, which will be funded by the Chinese Language Council International, or Hanban.

Hacienda La Puente Unified School District officials have allowed the public to view and provide feedback on books, DVDs and other instructional aids that will be used in the Confucius Classroom elective course at Cedarlane Middle School this fall.

After reviewing the books Friday, Kramar and Chen said they believed the Chinese-sponsored literature did not include a thorough account of the nation’s history. They were also concerned about several definitions in a Chinese dictionary they said reflect ideals of Communism.

And from another article from the right-wing New American:

“Though one tiny corner of my conscience says sure, the more the Chinese spend IN the United States the less they’ll have left to compete with and undermine us. But most of me is outraged — and a little bit alarmed.”

People sounded a similar alarm when the Confucius Institute opened at UCLA in 2007, said Susan Pertel, the program’s executive director. “Everybody was concerned we would be told what to do, what to teach,” she said. “That’s not the situation at all. It’s very much a partnership.”

“People accuse us of advancing a Chinese agenda,” said Chen. “They say the Chinese community is taking over. But one of the reasons to have the program is to make Cedarlane more attractive to all students, not just the Chinese.” But the school district’s voters might have a different idea about how to make the schools attractive, said King, the former superintendent.

“Our kids need to be taught Americanism,” he said. “This board is going to pay a price. I think the community is upset enough to vote them out.”

Americanism?

Word is that Jon Stewart will tackle the dispute in an upcoming show.

I just discovered that Multilingual Living (which I have linked to before) has a new website, which is a very inviting, useful resource with all kinds of information about raising bi- or multilingual children. That site in turn led to to another new site, Multilingual Mania, which includes personal stories, new research, book and movie reviews and more about raising bilingual children. On this site, I found a clip of the documentary Speaking in Tongues , which explores, “the provocative notion that being bilingual can be a national asset.” This clip focuses on a Chinese (Cantonese) classroom in San Francisco to show how language immersion works and the benefits of an immersion education.

For those in San Francisco, the Excelsior Branch Library will be showing the full movie tomorrow, May 26. For more information see here.

[This post is cross-posted at Bay Area Mama.)

An article in the New York Times looks at the experience of Chinese teachers who are sent to the US as part of a new government-sponsored program. Living in the Bay Area, where it seems natural to have Chinese language programs, I sometimes forget how incredible it is that places like Lawton, Oklahoma are implementing Mandarin programs in their schools. And what an odd experience it must be for the young mainland teachers to be teaching there. The article offers a glimpse:

Ms. Zheng said she spent time clearing up misconceptions about China.

“I want students to know that Chinese people are not crazy,” she said. For instance, one of her students, referring to China’s one-child-per-family population planning policy, asked whether the authorities would kill one of the babies if a Chinese couple were to have twins.

Some students were astonished to learn that Chinese people used cellphones, she said. Others thought Hong Kong was the capital.

Barry Beauchamp, the Lawton superintendent, said he was thrilled to have Ms. Zheng and two other Chinese instructors working in the district. But he said he believed that the guest teachers were learning the most from the cultural exchange.

“Part of them coming here is us indoctrinating them about our great country and our freedoms,” he said. “We’ve seen them go to church and to family reunions, country music concerts, rodeos. So it’s been interesting to see them soak up our culture.”

The Mandarin Immersion Parents Council (mentioned here) has a brilliant post with ideas and specific resources for squeezing more Mandarin into your child’s daily life. It is geared toward parents who do not speak Mandarin themselves, and some of the ideas are specific to San Francisco but most could be used universally. A great resource.

I have written up two posts about language programs in the Bay Area (the East Bay, to be exact) for Today’s Mama, where I now occasionally blog on Chinese education and culture in the Bay Area. One post is about language immersion programs and one is a listing of Chinese summer camps. I hope it is useful for those of you in the area. Please let me know if I overlooked anything.

PhD in Parenting blog has a lengthy and interesting post about raising bilingual children, and why and how to do it. Her conclusion for the “why”: “Overall, there seems to be a correlation between learning a second language and overall intelligence and open mindedness.” She also has a good overview of the various methods to use, depending on your family’s situation and environment. The post has generated a lively discussion on the topic in the comments section. Check it out here.

*The San Francisco Examiner lists activities and events for celebrating Chinese new year in the area. Hurry, the two week holiday ends this weekend with the Lantern Festival (and the big New Year parade in San Francisco Chinatown).

*A monthly Blogging Carnival focuses on linking bloggers who write about raising bilingual children. This month’s carnival was hosted by SpanglishBaby and features a link from yours truly. Lots of good material in there.

*A new study says babies can be bilingual before birth if their mom speaks two languages while they are in utero.

Much attention has been paid to the current craze for studying Chinese, especially in the U.S., and Mandarin programs in public and private schools are mushrooming, as an article I posted last week demonstrates. The obvious line of reasoning goes that China’s increasing clout on the global economic stage means that learning the language will present future financial benefits for today’s young learners. All true, but there can be other more compelling reasons to learn the language as well. On her blog, Aimee Barnes writes movingly about how Mandarin helped save her from her learning disability and a troubled family life. “In Mandarin, as in poetry, I had finally found my own path through memory, cadence and tone. Through the rhythm of a character,” she writes. Read the rest of her beautiful post here.