An interesting article in today’s NY Times: “School Teaching in Chinese Is a Lure for Black Children.”
[quote]Paul and Denise Gamble have never been to China, and they were never particularly interested in its language or culture. Yet their two school-age children attend Shuang Wen Academy, a public school on the Lower East Side where much of the day is spent learning Mandarin.
Their children are part of an unexpected phenomenon at the four-year-old school: while most are children of Chinese immigrants, almost 10 percent of the students are black, and many of them come from the outer reaches of the city, enduring long trips for the chance to attend a school that has developed a reputation for excellence.[/quote]
Here’s the rest of the article. (Registration required, but worth it in general.)
Wouldn’t it be nice if the American, Canadian, British, etc. schools in Taiwan could say “English schools in Taiwan not just for foreigners” ???
I bet if the local Chinese parents had the choice to put their children here in Taiwan in (1) a Chinese educational environment, (2) an English educational environment, many of them would choose the latter.
This is wonderful news to hear. When I was in grade school, there were no foreign language classes at all and I had to wait until high school to enter Spanish class. Those kids probably don’t know it now but in the future they will discover how very lucky they were to be able to attend such a school. Actually, it is kind of sad that such a story has to make the news which means that it is really such a rare thing to happen. The best we can hope for is that there will be many more similiar chances for kids to learn a foreign language in grade school in the future.
[quote]Wouldn’t it be nice if the American, Canadian, British, etc. schools in Taiwan could say “English schools in Taiwan not just for foreigners” ???
[/quote]
I was thinking along those lines myself.
A Reciprication of Status agreement would not only open up American schools in Taiwan but would allow the Taiwanese to safegaurd their right to maintain their own schools in the US.
overseasamericans.tripod.com/ove … /id20.html