Mandarin immersion programs in LA

Updated:10/10/11 15:03:50 PM CST

On October 3, 2011, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Confucius Institute (CI) held a ceremony to inaugurate three new Confucius classrooms. The UCLA CI is ratified by Hanban (Confucius Institute Headquarters).

Chancellor of UCLA Gene Block and Vice President of SJTU Xu Fei attended the ceremony.

Chancellor Gene Block extended his congratulations to the inauguration and fully affirmed the positive significance of setting the Confucius classroom by mentioning that the classrooms embody a commitment to helping students succeed in a changing global economy.

Vice President Xu Fei briefly reviewed the UCLA-SJTU joint establishment of CI and held that the Confucius classroom marked a new stage that UCLA Confucius Institute stepped into.

Executive director of the institute Susan Jain ensured the full support from UCLA CI to the constant improvement and development of the Confucius classrooms, to fully perform the service of CI.

The three classrooms are set in Broadway Elementary School, Norton Space and Aeronautics Academy and Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. In their brief speeches, principals of these schools showed expectations to the future language and culture exchanges.

Dressed in traditional Chinese attire, 6-year-olds from Broadway Elementary School introduced themselves in Mandarin and sang a song. They are beneficiaries of the Mandarin immersion programs which are taught in Chinese solely and completely.

That night, the SJTU Students Orchestra accompanying Vice President Xu gave a spectacular performance in Schoenbery Concert Hall of UCLA. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and his wife attended the concert upon invitation.

In recent years, UCLA Confucius Institute has been committed to promoting Chinese language and cultural exchanges and also bridging cooperation between SJTU and UCLA. Chinese and American students performed on the same stage that night is the fruit yielded from coordination done by UCLA Confucius Institute.