Columbia Friends of China > Education

Feb 28 2007 meeting with Columbia Public Schools

Date: Feb. 28, 2007

Place: Smithton Middle School

Attendees: Bob Brady, Foreign Languages Coordinator, Lynda Linneman, EEE gifted program teacher, & Hsiao-Mei Wiedmeyer (morning meeting). Bob Brady, Lynda Lilnneman, Mary Jo Herde, Richard Potter , advisor for Asian Affairs Center & Hsiao-Mei Wiedmeyer (afternoon meeting)

Bob Brady summarized the discussions of Columbia Public Schools' opportunities for Chinese language teaching. He envisions the following steps:

• Smithton EEE gifted student classes - under the guidance of Ms. Lynda Linneman - has been approved by Marte Bock, EEE coordinator. The plan is to offer
• • Chinese during the 3rd quarter of 2007 school year (approximately in Jan - March 2008), Ms. Linneman will start an introductory class on Chinese history, culture, tradition, games, foods and a basic of Chinese language to her 6^th grade gifted students. Mary Jo will help by coordinating English teachers from China to assist Ms. Linneman on this class
  • a class with focus on Chinese language development might be offered the following year (2009) to 7^th grade EEE students.
  • Hopefully by 2010, we will have a certified teacher to teach Chinese in Junior High and High School levels.
  • Smithton School is the pilot program. The EEE programs in the other 2 middle school may initiate similar programs in 2008 or 2009.
  • Ms. Linneman also plans to link up with schools in Laoshan to facilitate exchanges between our students and Chinese students and promote interests in learning Chinese.
• Encore Program in all 6^th grade classes
• • All 6th graders in Columbia Public School have 5-6 weeks of Encore Program to experience world culture and languages. Current languages in this program include Spanish, French, German, Latin and Japanese.
  • A one day Chinese class will be offered through Encore in academic year of 2007-2008.
  • The 90 minutes presentation will introduce 6th graders a brief Chinese history, culture and some basic language experiences. Volunteers from Chinese community and MU Asian/Chinese program faculties and staff will collaborate in the development of a curriculum that will be used in all 3 middle schools. There are 12 teams of 6 graders students in each of the 3 middle schools; we will need enough Chinese speaking volunteers to teach the 36 groups of students during the academic year.
• Curriculum and Virtual schools
• • If a regular full year Chinese class as a language elective is planned for Columbia Public schools in 2010, it will require strategy in how to organizing curriculum and locating licensed and qualify teachers.
  • HM mentioned that Ou Yan Wen, a PhD in education just completed a Chinese course outline for MU internet High School. She is willing to help us with our curriculum design.
  • Dr. Potter found virtual Chinese courses that are ready for internet learning for high school and elementary school students. This program was results of collaboration by Michigan State University and Confucius Institute in Michigan. He will ask Dr. Yong for permission for our teachers to preview this program.
  • Missouri also has a virtual high school program directed by Curt Fuchs. Currently they are offering Spanish and Latin. We should invite them to be part of our effort.
• Resources and supports
• • Mr. Brady, Ms. Linneman and HM visited Hallsville elementary school and met with Suzanne Stillwell on Feb. 22nd. Hallsville has had international relationship with schools in Taiwan for several years. Ms. Stillwell graciously shared their experiences on video conference, internet fieldtrip, traditional holidays on webpage and email. Funding of her projects came from State Department with a partnership with Dr. John Wedman and Dr. Jane Holland. She used a Polycam donated by Verizon for video conference. Due to the time differences, her students had a lock in one evening so they can interact with students in Taiwan. Some of the considerations of this type of set ups are firewall and how to use Mornet (or other server) for exchanges. She has a webpage including blogs about her experiences http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/stillwell
  • If Polycam is needed for interaction between Columbia and our sister schools, we will need to obtain funding for a unit (approximately $7000). Currently there is one unit at the Smithton School but it is used by Zero Hour Math program. There is a possibility that the EEE program will need to use it only in the evening due to the 13 hour time differences between USA and China.
  • It will help to promote Chinese language in mid-Missouri if Columbia teachers, educators and administrators are able to experience China first hand personally. There are both public and private grants to fund such visits to China.
  • We should compile a list of resources and links of possible funding sites. HM will contact faculty at Confucius Institute for assistance.
  • Confucius Institute at Kansas City will be a great resource for us. Mary Jo volunteers to contact them for possible Asian Cultural and Language workshop in Columbia for teachers. CI has supported Lee Summit schools with their Chinese classes and we will plan a trip to visit both CI and Lee Summit School.
• HM will organize a CFC Education Committee meeting in a week or two to update everyone the progress we made

Minutes prepared by Hsiao-Mei Wiedmeyer