Language Resources in Minnesota: Chinese

The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) announce a new listserv dedicated to promoting and supporting Chinese K-12 language education in Minnesota.

The purpose of this list is to provide a forum to exchange ideas and information on Chinese language education in Minnesota targeted at:

• Chinese K-12 teachers currently teaching in programs across the state
• Individuals/groups interested in setting up a Chinese language program in their area
• Anyone who is interested in Chinese K-12 language programs

Subscriptions to this list are open and the list is unmoderated.

How to Subscribe to the MN-K-12 Chinese Listserv:

1) You can subscribe on-line at: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=MN-k12Chinese&A=1
2) You can subscribe by sending a message (in the message box, not the subject line) to: LISTSERV@LISTS.UMN.EDU SUBSCRIBE MN-k12Chinese YOUR FIRST NAME YOUR LAST NAME

The MN K-12 Chinese listserv is a partnership between CARLA and Minnesota Department of Education. The list is managed by CARLA

The Asia Society
http://www.askasia.org/chinese/
The Asia Society website is the “go to” site for information needed to start or expand a Chinese language program. The website provides the following features:

“Why Chinese?”
http://www.askasia.org/chinese/whychinese.htm
Provides a list of compelling reasons to support Chinese language education

Find a School
http://www.askasia.org/chinese/schooldirectory.htm
See a listing of currently existing Chinese programs in the country.

Creating a Chinese Language Program in Your School: An Introductory Guide http://www.askasia.org/chinese/publications.htm
This guide provides you the basics of setting up a new program.

Chinese Languages in the Schools Newsletter http://askasia.org/chinese/announcements/newsletter0107.htm
This newsletter was launched by the Asia Society in January 2007 is intended to provide information to a wide range of people who are involved in or becoming interested in Chinese education

China Center at the University of Minnesota
http://www.chinacenter.umn.edu/
This website includes information about local organizations involved with Chinese language and culture.

Immersion Education and Research at CARLA
https://carla.umn.edu/immersion/
Immersion education has long been a priority at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. This site provides in-depth resources for those interested in immersion education.

Minnesota Department of Education Mandarin Initiative
http://www.minnesota-china.com/education/initiative.htm
This site has information from the taskforces focused on Chinese Curriculum Inventory, Curriculum Development and Legislative Recommendations.

Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools
Email: classk12@gmail.com
Website: http://www.classk12.org/
Includes a survey conducted in 2003 of Chinese language programs across the country.

Chinese Language Teachers Association
Email: cyndy@hawaii.edu
Website: http://clta.osu.edu/
This professional organization is devoted exclusively to the study of Chinese language, culture and pedagogy.

This list of online resources was annotated by Zhen Zou at theUniversity of Minnesota

Collections of Materials

CLA Language Center at the University of Minnesota (http://languagecenter.cla.umn.edu/index.php?page=links_chinese )
Website features links to many resources on Chinese language, society, and culture.

E.L. Easton Languages Online
http://eleaston.com/chinese.html
Provides links to online resources including games, culture, activities for writing characters and more.

Less Commonly Taught Languages Project at CARLA
https://carla.umn.edu/lctl/materials/chinese/chinese.html
Includes links to a database to find where Chinese is taught at the postsecondary level and links to many online educational resources

UCLA Language Materials Project
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/
This site features over resources in Chinese and 100 different languages.

Language Resource Centers
http://nflrc.msu.edu/index.php
Includes links to professional development opportunities and materials in Chinese and many other languages that have been created by the U.S. Department of Education’s Language Resource Centers.

More Online Resources

China the Beautiful
http://www.chinapage.com
This is a website offers many useful resources for Chinese language and cultural education, including Classical Chinese Art, Calligraphy, Poetry, History, Literature, Painting and Philosophy.

Better Chinese
online.betterchinese.com
This Chinese website is targeted at kids aged 2-13. It contains such sections as “Happy Chinese,” “Magical China,” “Parents & Teachers,” and “Wonderful World.” The website offers paid course, but offers nine free trial lessons.

Chengo Chinese
http://kid.chinese.cn/en/node_1005.htm
This website is the result of a joint Chinese online courseware project done in collaboration by the U.S. Department of Education and the Chinese Ministry of Education. It takes the Olympics as the main theme, and language camps and home-stay life as its storyline, which presents thirty-five 50-minute episodes, targeted at students aged 12-18. Each episode has five parts: view story, read story, explore scenes, cultural notes, and language notes.

Chinese Multimedia
(http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons/1/index.htm)
This website is an excellent resource for video, audio, speaking, grammar exercises, and much, much more.

“Getting Around”
http://video.csupomona.edu/AnnenbergCPB/DragonsTongue-GettingAround-245.asx
This website features one episode about getting around in China from a 19 episode program called “Dragon’s Tongue.” Running almost 30 minutes, it consists of six sections: Traffic in Beijing 0:00- 6:05; Trip to Shanghai 6:06-14:24; History of Chinese Characters 14:25-17:29;
Misunderstanding (Tones) 17:30-19:50; Bicycles 19:52-23:18; Wang Family Episode 23:19-
28:09 (Bicycle Traffic Ticket). The episode is mostly in English, with some clips in Chinese.
Unfortunately, the other 18 episodes are not available.

New Concept Mandarin
http://www.newconceptmandarin.com/
This website created in Hong Kong offers three levels of Chinese. Each level contains 30 lessons in structural study, 12 units in functional study, 22 conversation topics, and 420 online quizzes. But you have to register and pay to use all the materials. The price is $70 for three months online Mandarin courses, or $120 for the CD-Rom Learning Kit. On the website there are six demo lessons, with two in each level.

BBC Languages - Mandarin Chinese
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/
Real Chinese is the BBC’s Chinese language learning website. It contains such survival topics as introducing oneself and one’s family, ordering a meal, shopping, transportation, and booking a hotel. It displays Chinese Pinyin, but not characters.

Rutgers’ Chinese Website
http://chinese.rutgers.edu/
This website offers free online multimedia Chinese courses that contain 80 lessons, running from beginning to advanced levels. Each lesson has a dialogue, sound files, vocabulary, grammar notes, and sentence structures.