Lower Mainland parent groups lobbying school boards for Mandarin Immersion courses
 

RICHMOND (NEWS1130) - Parent committees in five cities around the Lower Mainland want school boards to give them the chance to enrol their children in Mandarin Immersion, which currently doesn't exist. Teresa Pan, who heads the Richmond chapter of the Committee for Mandarin for B.C. Schools, says the demand is there and the advantages are obvious for giving kids the chance to learn another language.

Pan says 11 per cent of school-aged children in Richmon are enrolled in French immersion. She says there will be many challenges bringing the program here, but finding qualified teachers shouldn't be one of them. "Edmonton public schools have been offering a Mandarin bilingual program for 25 years. Currently they have 2,000 students registered. If Edmonton can do it, I think we can expect the same level of success--if not greater."

The classes would be introduced to kindergarten and Grade 1 students and every year a new grade would be added. Pan says her group will be making their formal presentation to the school board June 29th.

being chinese and obviously being able to speak cantonese and mandarin, i fully DO NOT SUPPORT this proposal.

Many immigrants can get around town w/o speaking a word of english. Needs such as cellphones, cable/internet all offer service in Mandarin, walk into most of the main banks in town and you are almost 90% sure be able to reach someone who can speak the above mentioned. Don't speak english and need to cut through customs at YVR? no problem, there are translators. Got sick? Doctors who speak the above are available. Need to get a drivers license but can't read ENGLISH? grab a learners book and take the knowledge exam in chinese.

yea i oppose this. People need to learn English, This isn't Beijing or Hong Kong.

of course, i dont know the what the meat of the proposal is, but if anyone can join the program, than this is a very bad idea.

I don't support this idea as well.

Fuck Chinese people.

the poll on news1130 is 75% NO and 25 yes ;) lol

i think there should be a Native Studies courses taught from k-12 instead of just in university rather than mandarin immersion

this is such bullshit. It was bad enough having a french immersion but now this? I seriously think you should learn English if you move to Canada or USA. I plan to go to Korea sometime next year, I'm making the effort to learn the language even though i'm just traveling. If i move there, i'll make sure i can fluently speak it in the first 5 years im there. Seriously

Theres other issues that need to be dealt with before the goverment/school district even touches this...

They should make mandarin immersion, but not allow it for anyone with any chinese background whatsoever, fucken mainlanders think they can get around the one difficult part of immigration.

A significant portion of chinese people coming over intend to learn english, right? How will this help that specific group of people?

they don't want to learn english, they sort of have to, well the kids at least how are you gonna get through school without english, well here's their answer

Coming from Chinese and being able to speak native Canto and Mand, I fully disagree with the stupid idea.

When I came to Canada, the first website I checked is www.cic.gc.ca. Guess what I noticed? That's right, IT'S IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH.

I think it's a cool idea, I would have liked the opportunity. I didn't like French. I was able to take Japanese in highschool though and take a trip there. I liked that.

Learning a new language is great. I wish my mandarin was better, but in the end the only people that will be enrolling will be immigrants from Asia. That just doesn't benefit anyone!

right mandarin immersion is not just a high school elective like spanish/french/japanese/etc.

What's so bad about learning french?

Mandarin is fine as a COURSE, but as a full immersion class, I'm against it. Fixing underfunded schools should be the first thing on the mind for school boards, not creating an easier environment for kids new to the country to settle in. That's why they have ESL, otherwise, kids would take the immersion class, and hardly know any English in the end. Personally, I'd learn Canto, Korean or Japanese if it was offered at my school, but my school is too poor for that.

You forget it in a year...

I think its a brilliant idea...having knowledge to the Chinese language is definitely an asset for the children in the future, whether its for business or what not. China is such an emerging power, knowing the language can only be beneficial..see how many Asian countries such as Taiwan and Korea have English immersion schools? they didn't complain, so what should us?

Because English is the language of the US

You know, the country that has the biggest cock on the planet?

I don't like this idea.
I understand french immersion in schools, as French is one of Canada's official languages, but seriously mandarin? C'mon.

If more than anything, english should be taught as a higher priority instead, cuz I think English overall is a more universal language world-wide.

A-fcking-MEN!!!

I SAY A BIG FAT NO!!!


The Official languages are ENGLISH and FRENCH!! not chinese.

what next? Korean, Punjabi immersion?

People in this country need to either learn english . . or french.
I'm all for multi-culturalism, but theres comes a point where you need to fcking assimilate to some degree.

does alberta have a much higher chinese population that bc? i heard on news 1130 that ab already has this program running with about 2500kids

ever been to Richmond?

I think that answers the question :haha:

english or french, nothing else. this is still canada damn it!

FUCK THIS SHIT.. I'm fucking chinese from HK and i do not support this shit...

mandarin immersion? give me a break.. how about they learn some english?

This is Canada, not Chinada... the official languages in this country is English and French, I already hate people who take mandarin in highschool for credit instead of french, but to take this further into immersion?

mandarin immersion will only help the chinese kids who can't learn english properly because they keep speaking chinese... force them to speak english and they'lll learn the language relatively quickly.. c'mon.. it's not that hard of a language to learn..

if they pass this.. it will have heavy consequences in the university level as none of them will be able to write in english or french... and then they're going to lobby for courses taught in mandarin in university...

i've been here for almost 14 years.. since i was 9.. and i hate some of these dumb ideas.. and these chinese councils or assocations or whatever trying to promote chinese language everywhere... learn english.. this is Canada... O CANADA!!

they have mandarin 9-12 anyways. why do you need mandarin in elementary. bull..... theres gonna be SO much more mainland china kids if this goes through. French immersion i understand since french is a national language.

fuck i didnt speak a word of english when i came to canada in kindergarten. english is not a hard language to learn anyways.

dumb chinese kids, learn English.