By Nicholas C. Stern, News-Post
Nicholas Churilla, a rising third-grader at Yellow Springs Elementary School, makes a Chinese lantern at New Life Christian School as part of the STARTALK summer program that teaches children Chinese culture and the Mandarin language.bWhen the Asian American Center of Frederick approached Jason Johnson to plan lessons for a Chinese-language camp, some novel circumstances presented themselves. Johnson, an advanced math and science academics instructor who develops curricula for Frederick County Public Schools, had no model for a program that integrated Mandarin Chinese with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subject matter.bBut he figured if Chinese people learn math and science every day, the task had obviously been accomplished before.bThe three-week STARTALK program, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, is designed to develop skills for young American students in languages critical to national security, including Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=137879
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