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11-06-2009, 02:27 PM
Williams, aide to discuss 'immersion' site prospects
By Peter Simon
News Staff Reporter
Updated: November 05, 2009, 7:59 AM
Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams and a top aide are leaving for China next week on an 11-day fact-finding trip with the agenda of establishing a “Chinese immersion” school in Buffalo.
As initially envisioned, the school would enroll half its students from Buffalo and the other half from China, and would stress fluency in both English and Mandarin Chinese.
“If our children are going to compete in a global market, we’ve got to connect with other parts of the world,” Williams said Wednesday. “For us to be invited to China is a big plus for the City of Buffalo.”
Williams and Catherine Battaglia, a Buffalo community superintendent, will attend a conference of the International Forum for Education, to be held next Thursday through Nov. 15 in Shanghai. They will make a presentation on Buffalo’s Leadership Academy, which trains principals and other administrators.
The rest of the visit will be devoted to “study tours” in Beijing, where Chinese officials will introduce Williams and Battaglia to schools and other institutions.
The trip follows visits to Buffalo from two separate contingents of top Chinese educators and is designed to lay the groundwork for an extensive partnership that would include:
•The immersion school, which Williams said would enroll from 300 to 500 students and could be in operation within a few years.
•An exchange program that would allow high school juniors and seniors from Buffalo to spend an academic year or a summer in China.
•Opportunities for Chinese educators to come to Buffalo to take part in the Leadership Academy.
If Williams and Battaglia return from China encouraged about those possibilities, they plan to set up a task force of school officials and community, business and government leaders to explore the partnership in greater detail.
“We’re going to be flexible,” Williams said. “We have our agenda, and I’m sure they have their agenda. We’re going to see if they come together for the benefit of both China and the City of Buffalo.”
Williams said the school system will pay for about $3,000 in air fare and that the Chinese government will cover other expenses, including travel, food and lodging in China.
Ralph Hernandez, president of the Buffalo Board of Education, said the Chinese partnership may be a worthy goal.
But he said the system’s top priority in terms of foreign languages should be improving what he described as a problem-ridden “English language learners” program. That program is designed for students who recently arrived in this country and whose first language is something other than English.
“I’m very concerned about the fact that we haven’t done a good enough job for the English language learners we have today,” Hernandez said. “I don’t want Mandarin, or any other language, or any trip, to come at the expense of our existing language instruction.”
Hernandez also said Williams gave the Board of Education a very general description of his Chinese travel plans but has not spelled out the specifics or made a request for funding.
“We need something a little more official than that,” Hernandez said. “We have to be able to justify the trip.”
Battaglia said visiting China was important to get a firsthand feel for the Chinese educational system and the needs of prospective partners.
“We can’t do this if we don’t know who the players are,” she said. “We have to put some names and faces together.”
After that, she said, many contacts could be handled by video-conferencing and other electronic means.
The University at Buffalo is a likely local partner, and Binghamton University and the Binghamton public school system also have expressed an interest, Williams said.
Many international students — including at least several dozen from China — already attend private and religious high schools in the Buffalo area.
For the most part, they plan to study at competitive U.S. colleges and universities, and figure that attending high school here will help them prepare by developing their English language skills, academics and cultural familiarity.
Christopher J. Lauricella, head of school at the Park School in Snyder, earlier called Williams’ plan a “brilliant” idea and said many Chinese students are looking for educational opportunities here.
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/850679.html?imw=Y
By Peter Simon
News Staff Reporter
Updated: November 05, 2009, 7:59 AM
Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams and a top aide are leaving for China next week on an 11-day fact-finding trip with the agenda of establishing a “Chinese immersion” school in Buffalo.
As initially envisioned, the school would enroll half its students from Buffalo and the other half from China, and would stress fluency in both English and Mandarin Chinese.
“If our children are going to compete in a global market, we’ve got to connect with other parts of the world,” Williams said Wednesday. “For us to be invited to China is a big plus for the City of Buffalo.”
Williams and Catherine Battaglia, a Buffalo community superintendent, will attend a conference of the International Forum for Education, to be held next Thursday through Nov. 15 in Shanghai. They will make a presentation on Buffalo’s Leadership Academy, which trains principals and other administrators.
The rest of the visit will be devoted to “study tours” in Beijing, where Chinese officials will introduce Williams and Battaglia to schools and other institutions.
The trip follows visits to Buffalo from two separate contingents of top Chinese educators and is designed to lay the groundwork for an extensive partnership that would include:
•The immersion school, which Williams said would enroll from 300 to 500 students and could be in operation within a few years.
•An exchange program that would allow high school juniors and seniors from Buffalo to spend an academic year or a summer in China.
•Opportunities for Chinese educators to come to Buffalo to take part in the Leadership Academy.
If Williams and Battaglia return from China encouraged about those possibilities, they plan to set up a task force of school officials and community, business and government leaders to explore the partnership in greater detail.
“We’re going to be flexible,” Williams said. “We have our agenda, and I’m sure they have their agenda. We’re going to see if they come together for the benefit of both China and the City of Buffalo.”
Williams said the school system will pay for about $3,000 in air fare and that the Chinese government will cover other expenses, including travel, food and lodging in China.
Ralph Hernandez, president of the Buffalo Board of Education, said the Chinese partnership may be a worthy goal.
But he said the system’s top priority in terms of foreign languages should be improving what he described as a problem-ridden “English language learners” program. That program is designed for students who recently arrived in this country and whose first language is something other than English.
“I’m very concerned about the fact that we haven’t done a good enough job for the English language learners we have today,” Hernandez said. “I don’t want Mandarin, or any other language, or any trip, to come at the expense of our existing language instruction.”
Hernandez also said Williams gave the Board of Education a very general description of his Chinese travel plans but has not spelled out the specifics or made a request for funding.
“We need something a little more official than that,” Hernandez said. “We have to be able to justify the trip.”
Battaglia said visiting China was important to get a firsthand feel for the Chinese educational system and the needs of prospective partners.
“We can’t do this if we don’t know who the players are,” she said. “We have to put some names and faces together.”
After that, she said, many contacts could be handled by video-conferencing and other electronic means.
The University at Buffalo is a likely local partner, and Binghamton University and the Binghamton public school system also have expressed an interest, Williams said.
Many international students — including at least several dozen from China — already attend private and religious high schools in the Buffalo area.
For the most part, they plan to study at competitive U.S. colleges and universities, and figure that attending high school here will help them prepare by developing their English language skills, academics and cultural familiarity.
Christopher J. Lauricella, head of school at the Park School in Snyder, earlier called Williams’ plan a “brilliant” idea and said many Chinese students are looking for educational opportunities here.
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/850679.html?imw=Y