Education Notebook

Rochester schools one of dozen districts part of $500,000 grant to fund Chinese language education

*Insert witty lead using universally-known Chinese words.*

(I don't have any mandarin symbols on my keyboard...)

Anyway, Rochester public schools are one of 12 school districts to receive funding for stepped up Chinese-language instruction. The money will come from the The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota.

It will be apparently used to:

hire Chinese language teachers, purchase textbooks and authentic language materials and to fund cultural learning opportunities.

The release just came across my desk, so I'll be working on some follow-up for how Rochester public schools will use this funding, and more importantly, how much money will come the Med City's way and for how long.

So, while this release gives almost more questions than answers, I hope it at least provided a break from SNOWNAMI 2009.

Release is below.

LINK: Minnesota schools receive funds for Chinese language instruction (release)

U of M brings nearly $500,000 to Minnesota schools for Chinese language education

Twelve Minnesota schools to be among just 25 nationally to house “Confucius Classrooms”

Contacts: Confucius Institute, University News Service (Minnesota)

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (12/08/2009) — The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota has helped 12 Minnesota K-12 schools receive funding totaling $486,501 through the “Confucius Classroom” initiative of the Confucius Institute Headquarters in Beijing, China. 

The Confucius Classroom designation is granted to schools outside of China to encourage Chinese language and culture instruction. Funding is provided to address the needs of each school based on a submitted proposal. Minnesota schools will use their funding to hire Chinese language teachers, purchase textbooks and authentic language materials and to fund cultural learning opportunities. In addition to funding, each site can order 1,000 complimentary textbooks or other resource materials from the Confucius Institute Headquarters.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota facilitated the proposal process and will oversee the 12 Minnesota Confucius Classrooms by conducting site visits, convening a best practices conference and acting as a resource for districts, schools and Chinese language teachers. Funding of these Confucius Classrooms is expected to continue for five years in order to develop sustainable Chinese language and culture programs.

The 12 schools receiving funding are Battle Lake Public School, Centennial School District, Concordia Language Villages, Fergus Falls High School, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnetonka Public Schools, Rochester Public Schools, St. John’s Preparatory School, South Washington County Public Schools, Willmar High School, Xin Xing Academy at Hopkins Public Schools and Yinghua Academy.

The recent announcement from Confucius Institute Headquarters of 16 new Confucius Classrooms included the 12 Minnesota schools, which brings the total number in the United States to 25

The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota promotes the study of Chinese language and culture throughout Minnesota. It is a collaborative initiative between the University of Minnesota, the Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters and Capital Normal University in Beijing. The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota is one of 67 in the United States and nearly 400 worldwide.

Article: Latin isn't dead in this classroom (Teacher profile)

Ellen Sassenberg is the kind of teacher that jokingly wonders why a student shaved his sideburns or playfully prods another about kissing his girlfriend in the hallway before class. She involves the students in the classroom, giving high fives or asking them about Halloween before class starts.

Above that, she clearly enjoys her job. It shows with the students. Here is a profile in today's paper about Sassenberg. She teaches Latin at Mayo High School.

Think she takes her job seriously? Here's what she said when I asked to shadow her class for half a period or so:

"I would really recommend that you could come for the entire period rather than arrive halfway through and being more of an interruption which affects classroom energy."

Yeah, I'd say she takes her post seriously.

LINK: Teacher of the month finds lively way to teach 'dead' language
(Have I beaten the dead language thing into the ground yet? I think I have. Time to grab another literary device. I'll get on that.)