China funds language courses for British Columbia schools

[Harold Schiffman]

 Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


The Vancouver Sun



China funds language courses for B.C. schools



An unusual announcement today from Premier Gordon Campbell.
The Chinese government has agreed to pay for the development of three
Mandarin language courses that will become part of the B.C.
curriculum. The courses - described by the premier as a "gift" from
one Olympic Games host country to another - will be for Grades 10, 11
and 12. They will also be available for free to any B.C. resident
through LearnNow BC, says a release from the premier in Beijing. High
school students taking the courses will earn four credits per course
towards graduation. The Confucius Institute, which operates in
downtown Vancouver by way of a partnership between BCIT and China,
will develop the courses along with the ministry's course content
development experts, the release says. The Confucius Institute's dean,
Lawrence Gu, describes this unusual arrangement as a "visionary
program (that) will further facilitate mutual understanding and
friendship between the people of Canada and China."



Full story:

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/archive/2008/05/23/china-funds-language-courses-for-b-c-schools.aspx




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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone: (215) 898-7475
Fax: (215) 573-2138

Email: haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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