Word: mandarinate
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Halsey, who came from a family of linguists, was fluent in Mandarin among other languages and interested in Asian culture. He once wrote a physics paper combining his interests in linguistics and science, explaining Einsteinian theory in Chinese...
...arty neighborhood of Minneapolis: a sprawling, boxy red brick building with plain steel doors. Yet inside, the blond, gregarious Minnesotan presides over an institution unique in the heartland: Yinghua Academy, a charter public school where elementary students of every ethnicity study subjects ranging from math to American history in Mandarin...
Yinghua, the first such immersion program in the Midwest, is on the leading edge of a movement that in recent years has seen Chinese-language programs spread rapidly throughout the U.S. In 2000 an estimated 5,000 kids were taking Mandarin in the U.S. This year the number is closer to 60,000. Now in its third year of operation, Yinghua moved this semester into a 45,000-sq.-ft. (4,200 sq m) former elementary school. (See pictures of Yinghua Academy...
...idea behind Yinghua, as with many immersion programs, is to introduce kids to the language and culture as early as possible - ideally, before age 12, while they're still absorbing information like sponges. Kindergartners and first-graders are taught exclusively in Mandarin, and a single period of English is introduced in second grade. By sixth grade, kids are learning half in English and half in Mandarin, with the expectation of proficiency in both. In Yinghua's classrooms, the walls are covered not with ABCs but with pictures and Chinese characters describing seasons, weather and the months of the year...
Lueth recently won an $800,000 grant from the Department of Education to develop a teaching model for immersion middle schools, and she advises educators around the country who are starting their own programs. If Yinghua can make Mandarin a success in Minnesota, she tells them, so can they. "This is a glorious culture - and an increasingly important language - that we are meaningfully teaching to our children," she says. "And we're in the middle of nowhere...