XIAO BAO CHINESE FOR CHILDREN (From the January/February 2007 issue of Time Out New York Kids. We were mentioned in their cover story about "Baby 411") Xiao Bao (which means "little sweetie") specializes in Mandarin Chinese. The lively 45-minute mixed-ages classes (newborns through age 5) are limited to 12 children or fewer, and feature a ton of visual stimulation. For a lesson on fruit, the two teachers--both native speakers--gave each child plastic bananas, apples, watermelons and the like while playing games and constantly repeating the Chinese word for each. Parents easily recognized the tunes of familiar nursery rhymes and songs like "Bingo" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" that were sung in Mandarin. While the kids ran around a lot, their attention was never far from the teachers. One attending dad swore his 13-month-old perks up whenever she hears Chinese spoken on the street. --Michelle Hainer for Time Out New York Kids.    How Do You Say 'Competitive?' Some Forward-Thinking American Students Are Adding Chinese Lessons to Their School Workload ABCNews.com - Nov. 29, 2006 By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES   Nov. 29, 2006 — - Thor Warnken is one of thousands of American students who are embracing the hottest language of the day -- Mandarin Chinese. At 18 months old, Thor isn't old enough yet to put a sentence together, but his mother has enrolled him in a language course and believes early exposure to Chinese will give him a leg up in the world. "Now, when we walk by a dog and I say the Chinese word, Thor points and says, 'Woof,'" said Lainie Warnken, a former teacher whose husband's insurance company has offices in China. "I know if my son really loves Chinese and takes it to its full potential, it will help him in school and prepare him for the future." From kindergarten to college, students are enrolling in Chinese language classes in record numbers. At a time when Spanish speakers have become America's largest minority group, Americans see the future in China, where the economy is booming and trade with the United States now exceeds $800 billion a year. "We've seen an explosion in interest. Parents see language as a way to give a child advantages in the job market," said Bret Lovejoy, executive director of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages, which urges schools to teach foreign languages "as young as possible." An Added Advantage Lovejoy says studying a foreign language strengthens a child's mastery of his first language, helps raise standardized test scores in other academic areas, and widens students' cultural horizons. Chinese is spoken by 1.5 billion people. As the fourth-largest economy worldwide, China is expected to surpass the United States in the next two decades, when today's children will be entering the job market. Many experts predict Chinese may be the world's principal language in the next 50 years. The majority of students in China learn English, yet few American students speak the foreign languages needed to participate in a new globalized world. "It's a national-policy mistake not to see language as a critical part of the core curriculum," Lovejoy said. That is changing. Five years ago, a mere 5,000 American students were studying Chinese, but today that number has jumped to more than 24,000 out of the 54 million elementary and secondary school children nationwide, according to the Department of Education. Some say that number may be as high as 50,000; an additional 34,000 students are studying at the college level. In the last year, at Princeton University, the number of students studying Chinese has almost doubled, from 226 to 407, making it the third most popular language at the school. Public high schools from Chicago to Boston are enrolling students as early as first grade, and some after-school programs are offered to kindergartners. In New York City, where seeking the competitive edge is so intense that children are interviewed for preschool slots, parents organized a weekly Chinese course for infants and toddlers. Chinese-American Danielle Chang founded the group Xiao Bao this fall after friends like Warnken urged her to set up classes for their children. Kids Have Fun and Get Fluent Chang filled four 45-minute classes with 60 students between the ages of 4 months and 5 years old. The winter term is now oversubscribed with more than 100 students. Chang hires mother-tongue Chinese teachers who hold master's degrees in early elementary education. "We have so much fun," said Warnken, who is considering holding Thor back from nursery school for a year so he can continue his Chinese studies."It's in a big open studio and the teacher talks Chinese all around us. I like to think he's picking up on something different, and the Chinese will expose him to a culture that he can appreciate one day," she said. Part-play group, part-SAT prep, the 10-week course costs $310. The children sit family-style on the laps of their nannies and mothers, singing songs, reading books, and naming body parts in Chinese. "It's hip and fun," Chang said. "Children are just like sponges and whatever language you expose them to, they never get confused." Half of Chang's students are ethnic Chinese, whose parents want to continue connections to their homelands. Other parents are professionals, like investment bankers who do business in China. "They see China as an economic superpower and want to offer their child a competitive advantage." High school students and their parents are just as enthusiastic about Chinese studies. A Resume Builder Jeanine Cummins of West Windsor, N.J., hopes her 16-year-old daughter, Katie, will have an edge when she eventually pursues a career in international business. Katie started Chinese at the private Peddie School her sophomore year and traveled to Shanghai and Tibet with her class last summer. That school has seen its enrollment quadruple and plans to launch an interdisciplinary Asian studies program next year. "It's the language of the future," Cummins said. "I have a friend whose daughter took Chinese classes here at our public school and taught English in China. All the big corporations have recruited her." Yu-Lan Lin, the senior program director of world languages for the Boston school system, said that there were currently six elementary Mandarin programs, two middle school programs, and four high school programs. "The program increase," she said, "is mainly due to school, community and parents' push, and the awareness of the importance of learning Chinese in the 21st century." Most American students, however, are at a distinct disadvantage in the global arena. As a result, Congress introduced a bill this year to spend $114 million on "critical need" languages, like Arabic, Farsi (spoken in Iran) and Chinese, which are now considered key to national security and international competitiveness. The overall number of Chinese learners is still low, though. The College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement language program, said Chinese still placed nearly dead last among high school choices, falling behind Latin and just above Italian. Spanish is still the most popular choice among high school students. The College Board will launch its first Chinese language exam in the spring. The course was developed with donations from the governments of China and Taiwan in 2004 after a survey of high school interest in new offerings. The results were startling: 2,374 participating schools chose Chinese over Italian (238), Japanese (173) and Russian (54). "We were astounded by the information," said World Languages International director Tom Matts of the College Board. "This unprecedented interest is a direct correlation with China's economic growth and its rise on the world stage. Now schools are following suit, and students are getting access." One such student was Brendan Williams, who graduated with a degree in Chinese from Middlebury College in 2001, and now lives in Taiwan, where he uses his language fluency as a commercial insurance broker for Marsh Ltd. "As a foreigner speaking in a business setting here, there are many advantages," he said. "Chinese has opened up a whole new world for me." Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures  Pre-school Mandarin classes take root in Manhattan Reuters - Oct 23, 2006 By Timothy Gardner NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kalista Godsman arrives to her Mandarin classes in a vehicle that's foreign to many other language students: a stroller. The 13-month-old and her 3-1/2-year-old sister Helena, who also takes French, are enrolled in Xiao Bao Chinese, one of a handful of emerging Manhattan Chinese language programs for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. "I think that it will lead to all kinds of things for them," said their mother, Rachel Moore. "Whether they are interested in the culture or the art of China, or whether they want to use it to make friends, travel, business." As China's economy booms and the world becomes more interconnected, U.S. parents are beginning to demand lessons that go beyond romance languages. Chinese language classes for preschoolers are still rare. But they are emerging across the country from Oregon to Michigan to Washington, D.C. No statistics could be found on how many American preschoolers are studying Chinese. And only about 24,000 of about the 54 million elementary and secondary school children in the United States are studying Chinese, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Danielle Chang, who used to edit a magazine, founded Xiao Bao at the urging of friends who wanted their kids to learn Chinese. The 10-week, 45 minutes, once a week course costs $310. Chang has about 60 students in four classes this semester and has a waiting list with enough students to double that, she said. At Xiao Bao, two teachers with masters degrees in education sing songs, read books and teach them the names of body parts, all in Mandarin with translations in English. The students sit on their parents' or nannies' laps, sing, point, or wander about. Seventeen-month-old Thor spent most of a recent class staring wide-eyed at the teachers, clapping his hands when the teachers urge him to in Mandarin. His mother, Lainie Warnken, said she doesn't expect Thor to become fluent, but that exposure to another culture at a young age could help him better grasp cultures and languages when he gets older. About half of the students are of Chinese descent, some of them adopted from China, said Chang. One mother, Susan Jennings brings her nearly three-year-old adopted Chinese daughter Faye to lessons, because she wants her to know the language of the region she's from. Some of the mothers and children have been to China. For others who haven't, that's just an opportunity. "I'm tentatively exploring to see if there are any foreign exchange programs for six-year-olds," Moore told Reuters.   Chinese program for babies CCTV.com - Oct 25, 2006 By Ge Ting Chinese-language-learning programs for adults and teenagers are nothing new. But in New York, courses specially designed for young children as young as 18 months are increasing and gaining popularity. And many parents, even if they're not of Chinese origin, seem keen to expose their children to this ancient language. Lainie Warnken, Mother of Thor said: "It's not necessarily to push Chinese on him or push any sort of language for that matter, just to expose them to a different culture, some day he'll hopefully be able to appreciate and understand a little bit as he gets a little older." Many like-minded parents have sent their children to Xiao Bao Chinese. Xiao Bao means little baby and it's an affectionate way for Chinese parents to call their children. 60 boys and girls aged between 18 months to three years have filled all of the classes this semester. And teachers say they still have a long waiting list. They say the backlog of students is quite unexpected. Danielle Chang, Founder of Xiao Bao Chinese Classes said: "About half the kids in the class are non-Chinese. Parents realize that the earlier their children learn Chinese, the better." 3-year-old Faye Ross was adopted by her American parents in China when she was still a baby. Her parents want her to know the language of her native country. Susan Jennings, Mother of Faye Ross said: "She was born in China and we adopted her, my husband and I adopted her when she was ten and a half months old and we always wanted her to continue to hear Mandarin and to have that language, if she chooses to continue with it." Xiao Bao Chinese is one of only a handful of Chinese language program for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in New York. But many of the parents of the children taking part in the classes, seem to be getting as much benefit from the cultural experience, as their kids.    UrbanBaby.com - Oct 10, 2006