Americans are increasingly recognizing the rise of China as one of the most important developments of the twenty-first century. With China's tremendous economic growth and rapid emergence as an international leader, the need to train more American students in the Chinese language is immediate and pressing. Today, the number of students nationwide who are studying Chinese is minuscule, only about 24,000. That compares with the 3 million taking Spanish, the most popular language in America's schools, with French and German next. How to build the capacity to meet the urgent need for more training in Chinese language is a challenge now being actively discussed by educational leaders across the United States. LEARN MORE.

Two Kansas Schools Win Prize for International Education

The 2006 Kansas in the World Award for Excellence in International Education was presented to the Center for International Studies at South High School in Shawnee Mission and to Southwest Junior High School in Lawrence, Kansas. The $1000 award is presented annually by the Kansas Committee for International Education in the Schools (KCIES) to one high school and one middle or elementary school in Kansas, that has demonstrated a strong commitment to international education by incorporating international content into a variety of subject areas, offering foreign language study and supporting professional development of teachers. LEARN MORE.

Kansas Summit on Strategic Languages

More than 100 people attended the Language Summit held on December 19, 2006 at Washburn University’s Bradley Thompson Center in Topeka, Kansas. Representatives from the educational community, the business community and the government were in attendance to discuss ways to implement the inclusion of strategic languages such as Chinese, Russian and Arabic into the K-12 curriculum across the state. The Keynote Speaker, Catherine Ingold, Director of the National Foreign Language Center in Maryland, spoke about the critical need for improved language teaching in US schools. To view the PowerPoint, click here.

Other speakers and panelists included State Senator Chris Steineger; Sue Gamble, KS Board of Education; Dr. William Tsutsui, Kansas Committee for International Education in the Schools Executive Board member and Robert Davis, Director of the Confucius Institute at the Chicago Public Schools.

For a look at the program click here.

View the Summit slide show

Kansas Task Force on Chinese Language Training Releases Report

The Kansas Task Force on Chinese Language Training, a statewide group of policymakers, educators, and business leaders, has released a public report detailing the current status of Chinese language programs in Kansas, opportunities and challenges for future development, and a series of specific policy recommendations. This report is an important first step in starting a statewide discussion on the need for increased Chinese language capacity throughout the Kansas education system.

Download the entire report (pdf ).

Download the executive summary (pdf).

Building upon the report of the Kansas Task Force on Chinese Language Training, a Kansas Summit on Strategic Languages will be held on December 19, 2006 in Topeka. More information on this event, which will facilitate communication among stakeholders, further the development of a policy agenda, and identify statewide leadership for the effort to expand world languages training, will be available at www.KansasintheWorld.org.

For more information, or to request hard copies of the Task Force report, please contact Randi Hacker at the Kansas Committee for International Education in the Schools, rhacker@ku.edu (785) 864-3832.
 

The Importance of Learning Chinese

According to a 2005 report published by the Asia Society, China's presence in the global market place of the future will be enormous. Therefore, the report says, the "task of increasing the number of American students who can demonstrate a functional proficiency in Chinese is urgent." The Asia Society proposes a 5-tiered approach to supporting a K16 Chinese language program which includes increasing the number of certified teachers, using technology to develop and deliver curriculum and materials and making a longterm commitment to this program as an investment in the future.

To read the Chinese Language Capacity Report report, click here.

To read the Asia Society's press release about the report, click here.

The Kansas Consortium for Teaching About Asia, with support from the Freeman Foundation of New York and Stowe, Vermont, announces the start of a series of school-to-school exchanges between districts in the greater Kansas City area and China beginning in academic year 2005-2006. These exchanges are aimed at significantly increasing communication and understanding between East Asia and America's Heartland and at promoting international education at the most personal level. The participating school districts are Lansing, Olathe and Shawnee Mission, Kansas, and Lee's Summit, Missouri. Partner schools in China are located in Kaifeng (in Kansas's sister province of Henan) and Xian (the sister city of Kansas City, Missouri). The exchanges will be facilitated by the China Exchange Initiative of Newton, Massachusetts. In addition to enhancing Asian studies programs in the participating districts, students will have the opportunity to travel to China, to learn Chinese, and to experience Chinese education and Chinese culture firsthand. This, in turn, will work to sustain and build the momentum in Kansas and Missouri for making East Asia a permanent part of the K-12 curriculum. The Kansas Consortium for Teaching About Asia is housed at the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas.

Does your community group or service club need a speaker? Want to learn more about international education, the importance of international trade to Kansas, or the opportunities and challenges of China? Let the KCIES speakers bureau supply an experienced and well-informed presenter for your next international event. In most cases, the speaker can be provided free of charge to non-profit organizations.

Contact kcies@ku.edu and please put Speakers’ Bureau in the subject line.

• An Asia in the Schools survey found teachers spent less than 5 percent of class time on Asia-related topics.
• Asia is Kansas' largest export market — about $2 billion in 2002.
• Kansas’ foreign-born population more than doubled from 1990 to 2000, with about 130,000 residents identifying another country as their birthplace.

• 97 percent believe that knowledge of international issues will be important to the careers of young people.
• 95 percent agree Kansas high schools should require courses that include international topics.
• 99 percent think that understanding international trade and economics is important to compete in the global economy. A total of 98 percent said the same about a knowledge of customs and cultures.
• They rank the most important areas of the world to learn about as, in order, Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, Canada and Mexico.

• It’s important to understand the causes and effects of world events since the U.S. plays such an active role.
• Our society is increasingly diverse, and we need international perspectives.
• The Internet and technology are making the world a smaller place.