In 2012, Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School (Yu Ying) received $200,000 from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to share their Chinese language education best practices and resources with the three DCPS elementary schools that offer Mandarin Chinese as a second language (Brent Elementary School, John Eaton Elementary School and Thomson Elementary School). The project enabled Yu Ying to help other Chinese programs and has given them valuable feedback on their Chinese program. Project activities included: 1) Two professional development seminars at Yu Ying for the DCPS Chinese language teachers; 2) A $7,000 stipend for each partner school to purchase Chinese resources and technology; 3) Duplication of Chinese language resources created by Yu Ying for distribution to the DCPS Chinese language teachers; and 4) A cultural and Chinese speaking field trip to Yu Ying for the DCPS Chinese language students. The field trip provided a medium through which Yu Ying students could interact with their counterparts at other DC public schools and vice versa.

Through this project, Yu Ying learned which of their resources and best practices are useful for other Chinese programs and thus, which of their best practices and created resources they can share with other programs. The idea for the project stemmed from a desire to help other Chinese language programs succeed. The project was also a response to Yu Ying receiving requests from other U.S. Chinese language programs for resources they created. In the school’s beginning stages, it was challenging for Yu Ying to find contextually appropriate Mandarin Chinese resources for their students and they had to create many in-house. This project was the perfect vehicle for them to explore how to help and learn from other Chinese language programs.

Charter School Program Dissemination Grant