Join us for our Parent Education Night on September 8!

Friends of Mandarin Scholars in the SMFCSD presents:

Parent Education Night featuring Elizabeth Weise, Author of “A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion”

Tuesday, September 8 from 6:30-8:00pm

College Park Elementary School Multipurpose Room

715 Indian Avenue, San Mateo

Elizabeth “Beth” Weise, author of the book “A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion”, will share some of her discoveries and insights from her extensive research and experience on a subject that is near and dear to all of us, our children and their Mandarin education.

Beth will focus on a variety of Mandarin Immersion topics including:

• Context and trends regarding growth of Mandarin immersion programs in the US (FLAP funding influence, use of traditional vs. simplified characters, whole school vs. strand programs, etc.)
• How does Mandarin education vary at the elementary, middle school and high school levels?  What are best practices noted at these different levels?
• Considerations that parents should make in choosing the right type of Mandarin education for their child (private vs. public school, Saturday programs, after-school programs, private tutors, summer programs abroad, etc.)
• Student learning, Productive vs. Receptive language, and Social vs. Academic language – tips for improving language proficiency for our children?
• Mandarin teacher training, recruitment and retention – what can we as parents do to support this at our schools?
• How do we recognize the different motivations among Mandarin Immersion Parents so they can work together?
• What are the four ways to soothe concerns that may come up along the way?
• What type of support do other parent groups typically provide to their immersion programs?
• Are there any other best practices/tips that you would recommend for parents to support their children, the teachers, and the school?

Beth’s book, “A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion”, can be purchased online at Amazon.com(remember to use AmazonSmile to support Friends Of The Mandarin Scholars In The SMFCSD) or Createspace.com (this will provide more proceeds that directly support Beth’s work).  Copies of the book will also be sold at the event for $18.95 each.

About Elizabeth “Beth” Weise (rhymes with geese):

She has two daughters that attend Mandarin Immersion schools in San Francisco. Her daughters both graduated from Starr King Elementary and now attend Chinese American International School (CAIS). She was on the planning committee to help establish the Mandarin Immersion program in San Francisco’s public schools back in 2005.  She went on to become a founding member of the Mandarin Immersion Parents Council and was on the board of the nonprofit Jinshan Mandarin Education Council (JMEC) for three years. JMEC supports the Mandarin Immersion programs in the SF public schools. In her day job, she is an award-winning journalist with USA TODAY who covers science, Silicon Valley and computer security out of the paper’s San Francisco bureau.