NACA Promotes the Study of Mandarin Chinese in Atlanta Public Schools

The Imagine Wesley International Academy was created by Dr. Rebecca Gray of the Atlanta Board of Education as an international school with Mandarin as a second language. It is the first public chartered school in Georgia that offers Mandarin classes beginning with the 1st grade. It is tuition free to all Atlanta residents. Parents of students must be prepared to donate volunteer hours in order to put their children on the waiting list. The students participate in a curriculum that follows the guidelines set by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). Having opened in 2005, its projected enrollment for this fall is 740 students. Its popularity has prompted many parents to transfer their children from private schools to attend the Academy.

The key to the school’s success is their teaching methods, parent particpation, and management simplicity. Many local leaders such as the Governor, mayors, and school board chair persons have visited the Academy with several counties in Georgia now planning on launching similar charter schools.

The purpose of this visit was to develop an interest piece for Chinese media on Mandarin teaching in Georgia and elicit an interest in parents to consider enrolling their children for the fall. The Academy’s interactive teaching methods, the teachers’ intense focus on the students, and the childrens’ eagerness to converse in Mandarin impressed NACA members including Danny Pian, Jung Mar, and Qin Sun.

Local Chinese newspapers published an article by NACA’s Qin Sun of NACA about Image Wesley and other charter schools where Mandarin in taugh. The article was intended as a public service announcement to inform the Chinese community about the availability of Mandarin teaching in regular public schools. A report by Jung Mar to the NACA board resulted in a sponsorship of $2,500 toward the building of a Chinese children’s library at the school. In addition to the NACA grant, NACA’s Hong Wills will serve on Image Wesley’s management board.