Grant Allows Barrington Elementaries to Teach Mandarin Chinese

A federal grant will allow some Barrington elementary students to learn Mandarin Chinese as early as kindergarten.  

Barrington School District 220 was the only school in Illinois and one of 22 in the country to be awarded the $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language Assistance program.

The funding will enable the district to teach Mandarin Chinese to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The District 220 Board of Education will continue to approve the program in phases and iron out details before the program is launched, probably in the 2011-12 school year. The next phase of approval by the board is slated for late October or early November. 

Todd Bowen, District 220's world language department chairman, said he is thrilled with the announcement.  

"The most exciting thing for students in District 220 is that they will have an opportunity not given to most students in the United States," Bowen said.

Mandarin Chinese was chosen by the district for a variety of reasons.  It's one of the world's most influential languages, with more than one billion native speakers.  Also, the district already has a Chinese language program in place for middle schoolers.  The new program will offer a more intense learning experience for children as young as 5 and 6 years old. 

The program will be what Bowen calls a "50/50 immersion."  The first graders enrolled will speak Mandarin about half of the school day and English the rest of the time.  The percentage of time spent speaking Mandarin will decrease as students get older. 

Bowen said it's critical to start teaching children Mandarin at the elementary level.  The Chinese language is so complicated, it can take up to three times longer to master than typical romance languages.  Bilingual students also reap other benefits in the classroom.

 "Students who study two languages as a child perform at the same level or better than mono-language students," Bowen said.