Press Releases
Destination China: 800 U.S. Education Leaders Tour China
Goal is to Promote Chinese Language Programs Stateside06/18/07
NEW YORK—Hundreds of education leaders from schools and districts nationwide will travel to China this summer to learn firsthand about the country’s culture and language and then bring back their experiences to U.S. classrooms.
The second annual Chinese Bridge Delegation will take place June 23–July 2. With about 800 delegates scheduled for this year’s trip, participation has doubled since last year. Superintendents, principals, teachers, language coordinators and other administrators will begin their tour in Beijing and then travel to other cities and provinces. Participants will have an opportunity to meet with Chinese education leaders, visit Chinese schools, build sister school ties and network with other U.S. educators who hope to build Chinese language programs in their schools.
In April 2006, the College Board and Hanban, China’s Office of Chinese Language Council International, announced the formation of a partnership to build and expand Chinese language programs in U.S. schools. In addition to the Chinese Bridge Delegation, the partnership features other programs intended to help U.S. educators promote Chinese language and culture study.
"We hope this program will eventually help to offer more students in our country the opportunity to become fluent in the most widely spoken language in the world,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton. “We’re building a bridge that will aid in strengthening our ties, our future economic partnerships and our appreciation of our respective cultures.”
Beyond cultural enrichment, the trip will also provide incentives and strategies for educators to return to the United States better able to support the growth of Chinese language and culture programs in their own districts. Chinese is the national language of the more than 1.3 billion inhabitants of China and millions more ethnic Chinese around the world. While more than 200 million Chinese schoolchildren are studying English—often begun as early as the second grade—experts estimate no more than 50,000 U.S. students are studying Chinese.
The Chinese Bridge Delegation aims to expose school decision-makers to the rich history, culture and language of a country with rapidly rising global influence. Ultimately, the program sponsors aspire to foster better understanding of Chinese culture and fluency in the language among U.S. students.
“Unless we act to teach our students now about the power and influence of China and the Far East, we are crippling them as they step into the global economy and workforce,” said 2006 participant Diane Cooper, head of school for the Columbus School for Girls in Ohio.
The Chinese Bridge Delegation is sponsored by Hanban in partnership with the College Board, the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools, the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages, the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages and Chinese Consulates in the United States.
Established by the Chinese government in 1987, Hanban is China’s official agency with a mission to promote Chinese language and culture internationally, fulfilling a function similar to that of both the United Kingdom’s British Council and France’s Alliance Française. For more information about these programs, visit www.collegeboard.com/k12chinese.
Delegates representing public schools and districts, independent schools, and state and local education agencies from 44 U.S. states will be participating.
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