Read the course proposal and then do some homework on your own. Don't listen to us. Make your own assessment. This course proposal makes the budgetary fluff like like Gilbert Grape's mom's sofa cushion. Administration has proposed a year-long "Chinese 1" course open to grades 9-12.
The situation report lists the following school districts with Chinese programs:
"The following Wisconsin school districts offer Chinese as a choice of world language: Amery, Argyle, Arrowhead Union High School, Elkhart Lake, Grantsburg, Green Bay Area, Greenwood, Hudson, Janesville, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison Metropolitan, Marathon City, McFarland, Middleton-Cross Plains Area, Milwaukee, Mosinee, Northern Ozaukee, Oak Creek-Franklin, Oconomowoc Area, Oshkosh Area, Port Edwards, Sheboygan Area, Sheboygan Falls, Shorewood, Somerset, Verona Area, Waukesha, Waunakee, West Bend and Winneconne Community."That's 31 out of 425 districts. Really? That's worth all the hullaballoo? So that we can become one of the 7%? Now if we were becoming one of the Seven-Ups? Different story.
Here's another part of the proposal we find would extend Pinocchio's nose to record lengths:
List the major learning targets (what you want the students to know and be able to do).Really? exactly what "texts" will they be able to compose using only 100 Chinese characters? Are we talking "texts" as in text messages? You know...like CU L8R? That's like 3% of the number of characters deemed necessary to "get around". The LOWEST estimate we've seen is that one needs to learn at least 1500 characters. So now our percentage is up to a whopping 6.7%!!! Also...learning Chinese characters is a whole lot different than learning words in other languages. It's all about brush/pen strokes. And the average character requires about 9 strokes. And there are 8 different types of strokes.
Chinese I is an introductory course in Mandarin Chinese, incorporating listening, speaking, reading and writing skills into a standards-based approach. Students will be able to engage in conversations on topics of everyday interest, successfully engage in targeted listening activities based on textbook and authentic materials, recognize and be able to read and compose texts using at least 100 of the most commonly used Chinese characters. They will be able to identify and discuss various patterns of behavior and interactions typical of Chinese culture and understand underlying cultural perspectives.
At what cost?
Initial cost of over $5,200
Textbooks: 48 x $69.95 = $3,357.60
Software- Voice thread: http://voicethread.com/products/k12/school/ Min. price $350 for 1 subscription. Software- Arch Chinese: http://www.archchinese.com/arch_membership.html $89.99 Curriculum Development Cost: 40 hours x $24/hour=: $960 Annual subscriptions to online resources: $450
So many questions
What's the end game here? 4 years of Chinese? Full-immersion?
Who will teach this and what are their qualifications to teach the course?
How many students will opt for this? Is there a number below which it wont be offered?
Is this going to become the equivalent of basket-weaving for a small group of students who already have a rudimentary understanding of/experience with Chinese?
FORTY EIGHT textbooks????????
Can't the Sun Prairie Education Foundation at least partially fund this start up? Doesn't look like we even asked.
Mandarin Chinese? Is this REALLY helping our students achieve more?
Check these sources out
http://speakingadventure.com/how-many-words-is-fluent
http://www.mcfc.foryousoft.com/writing/memorizingTips.php
http://www.scipress.org/journals/forma/pdf/1504/15040409.pdf
Doesn't look so easy...does it?
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
这是最好的时代，这是最坏的时代
I do not like green eggs and ham
我不喜欢绿鸡蛋和火腿
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