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Teaching Chinese with technology at Minnetonka High School-The Magic
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- Published on Wednesday, 07 November 2012 08:41
Part 1 
By Will Ahern, Staff Writer
Students celebrated their good fortune-magic had arrived! The panacea to educational excellence was now within the reach of all ninth graders at Minnetonka High School (MHS). Apple iPads were being distributed to the students for use in all their classes.
Minnetonka, a school district of academic excellence in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities of Minnesota, was indeed distributing iPads to all ninth graders for use in all their classes, including Chinese. This was not a capricious or trendy solution, but a school district at the right place and at the right time able to leverage technology to accelerate and extend learning for its students—a long-established technology initiative supported by a communitywide referendum that worked in their favor. A 22-year Chinese program brought tremendous teaching experience to bear.
A Global Education on Steroids Two countries + two cultures = dual diplomas
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- Published on Sunday, 07 October 2012 11:02
By Jodi Yim James, Staff Writer
Students at St. Paul Preparatory School (SPP) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Paul American School Program (SPAS) under the Auspices of Beijing Number Two High School Attached to Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China have a rare opportunity to pursue their high school diploma at two campuses, between two countries, and earn dual diplomas.
ESL and CTL: English as a Second Language and Chinese as the Third
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- Published on Sunday, 07 October 2012 09:34
By Jodi Yim James, Staff Writer
What is it like to come to an international school in the United States to improve English and then also learn Chinese? What is it like to be a local Minnesotan studying Chinese?
We decided to find out by asking a Chinese language class at St. Paul Preparatory School (SPP) located in downtown St. Paul which has students from more than 48 countries in addition to local Minnesotans. Students must be highly qualified to study at this unique high school, and when they take another language, it is often their third, or fourth, or fifth language. Usually, they are already in another culture - the United States - and yet they want to expand their cultural horizons further by studying Mandarin Chinese. Huong Tran, a young lady from Vietnam; Homin, a young man from South Korea; and Alexia from our own Twin Cities, all shared thoughts, feelings, and experiences about Mandarin Chinese, China, and the United States.
U of M Confucius Institute awards scholarships to students studying in China
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- Published on Saturday, 22 September 2012 08:36
Minneapolis, MINN., August 27, 2012 – The Confucius Institute Scholarship program has awarded University of Minnesota students Heather Kaus and Nathan Paul with 2012-2013 academic year scholarships. Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters established the scholarship program to encourage students and Chinese language teachers all over the world to study Chinese or conduct research regarding Chinese language and culture in China.
Update on a Minnesota Gem: Yinghua Academy, A Minnesota Top Ten School
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- Published on Friday, 03 August 2012 09:12
By Jodi Yim James, Staff Writer
With the release of the new Multiple Measure Rating (which replaces No Child Left Behind), Yinghua Academy ranks 10th out of 2,255 charter and public schools in the state of Minnesota.
The new MMR assesses 1) proficiency, 2) growth, 3) progress in closing achievement gaps, and 4) graduation rate. It is intended to be a more accurate way to monitor school performance. With an overall rating of 98.26% and an achievement gap rating of 98.80%, Yinghua Academy teachers, students, administrators, staff, and parents are deemed highly successful in their goal of rigorous academics.
Big opportunities in China for Westonka: A small Minnesota school district
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- Published on Saturday, 22 September 2012 08:22
By Jodi Yim James
The Westonka School District comprises all or part of eight suburban communities on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. Westonka takes advantage of having access to many opportunities available in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, while enjoying the relational and peaceful aspects of a smaller lakeshore community. The District says it “offers small school advantages with big school opportunities for real-life success stories.”
One initiative for real-life success is the Westonka Summer Institute. Participants complete global immersion experiences in China, Costa Rica or Peru. Students are immersed in a foreign culture through language, customs, family life, food, architecture, and history. They emerge with a global perspective and deeper understanding of Minnesota’s economic and environmental relationship to the rest of the world. The China trip tackles the global business arena; in Costa Rica students explore a variety of sciences; in Peru, students research ancient civilizations through archeology and history. The Institute is a hands-on education for applied learning, with Westonka staff traveling with the student group.
Perpich Arts High School serves as setting for cultural exchange for Chinese students
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- Published on Monday, 04 June 2012 13:47
The Perpich Center for Arts Education (PCAE), a public arts-centered high school for grades 11-12 in Golden Valley, recently served as the temporary campus for 6 students and a teacher from Luoyang #1 Senior High School, Henan, China.
This exchange is the result of last year’s visit by another delegation from Luoyang that was Perpich’s first Chinese exchange program. A group of students and teachers from Perpich earlier this spring visited Luoyang.
The purpose of the Perpich program is to immerse students in an experimental cultural exchange. The visiting students stayed with host families in student homes over the weekends so that they could learn firsthand what life is like in a particular geographic area, building common bonds of mutual understanding.
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