School News Network – Rick Wilson
“Sixth-grader Andy Kuo concedes it took him a few days to realize the language skills he’s learned during the past seven years in Forest Hills Public Schools’ Mandarin Chinese Immersion Program would stand up to a real world test. The 12-year-old was among a group of 32 students, parents and siblings who spent 11 days during spring break in China, visiting tourist attractions like the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the historic city of Xi’an, home of the famed Terracotta Warriors that guard the tomb of China’s first emperor. They also spent time working on their Mandarin and expanding their understanding of calligraphy with students and teachers at a pair of schools in Beijing and another about 90 kilometers outside of town…District officials think the program has been valuable to students preparing for jobs in an international economy, and has them thinking in different ways about the world around them.”(more)