The National Chinese Language and Culture Coalition (NCLCC) is formed by CLASS (Chinese Language Association of Secondary-elementary Schools), CSAUS (Chinese School Association in the US), and NCACLS (National Council of Associations of Chinese Language Schools), facilitated by the NEALRC (National East Asian Languages Resource Center), Department of Education Title VI, at the Ohio State University.
Officers of the NCLCC:
Chair: Galal Walker (NEALRC)
Vice Chair: Yu-lan Lin (CLASS)
Vice Chair: Lorna (Bin) Xing (CSAUS)
Vice Chair: Hsiao-ling Mao (NCACLS)
Secretary and Treasurer: Minru Li (NEALRC)
Founding Organizations:
CLASS
Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools is a non-profit professional organization that represents all Chinese language educators at all levels from elementary to secondary schools.
Its mission is to advance and promote the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture at PreK-12 schools in the United States.
Its visions are:
- To lead and promote the learning and teaching of Chinese in secondary and elementary schools in the United States;
- To encourage effective collaboration and articulation among elementary, secondary and college Chinese language instructors;
- To offer professional development opportunities and training in current teaching practices and instructional technology;
- To foster a national network for exchanging information, ideas, and curricular resources related to the teaching of Chinese language and culture.
CLASS was established in 1987 under the name of the American Secondary School Chinese Teachers Association. At the membership meeting in 1989, the association’s name was then approved to become the Chinese Language Association of Secondary Schools (CLASS). However, in order to reflect the increasing number of members who are teaching at elementary schools, the membership voted to change the official name to what we use today, the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools (CLASS) in May 1994.
CLASS was one of the principal organizations involved in the development of the national standards for foreign language learning. In the fall of 1995, CLASS launched an important Chinese Standards Project. Feedback, solicited through presentations at various state and national conferences, from K-12 Chinese language teachers, college professors and Chinese instructors, as well as specialists in the foreign language field, has been invaluable in honing and refining various sections of the document.
In 2006, the second edition of Standards for Foreign Language Learning was published and the Chinese standards revised. CLASS bears a primary responsibility to nurture and in-service K-12 Chinese teachers. CLASS continues to forge collaborations and form new partnerships with other professional organizations.
During the summer of 2000, CLASS sponsored a summer study program for its members in China. The program included one week of professional conferences and seminars at the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) and a one-week study tour to visit schools and historical sites in Xi ‘an and Shanghai.
CLASS was extremely fortunate to receive generous financial support from the Freeman Foundation, the Global Knowledge Exchange (GKE) Program, National East Asian Languages Resources Center (NEALRC) at The Ohio State University, and the East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University. Twenty teachers received a Freeman Scholarship award during the summer to attend workshops.
Website:
www.classk12.org
CSAUS
The Chinese School Association of the United States was founded in 1994. It is a national non-profit of Chinese language education in the United States of America. The mission of the organization is to maximize cooperation and exchange between all Chinese schools in the nation, promote the Chinese language and culture education in the United States and contribute to the overall China-America cultural exchange and cooperation.
With the mission in mind, CSAUS led by her Board of Directors have been working diligently on the following, promoting development and improvement in the Chinese language educational frameworks and systems, coordinating knowledge and resources in the Chinese language and culture education nationwide, providing support and platforms for teaching staff and school management to exchange and learn from each other, enhancing educational training and innovation and improving learning materials, and finally providing support in terms of knowledge, technology as well as human resources. By doing all that stated above, the CSAUS is able to help promote the long-term and positive development of the Chinese language and culture education in the U.S. Not only that, but it also contributes to the overall cultural exchange and cooperation between China and United States and impacts positively on the harmonious relationship between the two countries. Like many other well-reputed cultural and educational organizations, the influence of the CSAUS and the role the organization plays in the field are significant and far-reaching since it was founded 20 years ago.
The CSAUS is composed of over 400 Chinese schools in 44 major or medium-size cities in the United States. There are over 100,000 students and over 8,000 teachers at these member schools. Life of thousands of families of Chinese immigrants has been impacted by the service provided by the organization and its member schools over the years and the influence of the organization is tremendous. The fact that all member schools provide relatively stable course offerings at stable locations provides not only a social and communicative setting for Chinese immigrants and visitors, but also attracts more and more non-inherit age population to Chinese language and culture learning/education. The Organization promotes active involvement in various mainstream cultural events and activities by its member schools. As the largest Grass-root organization for Chinese Americans, CSAUS has been playing an important role in uniting Chinese Americans, disseminating Chinese culture and promoting China-US friendship.
Website:
www.csaus.net
NCACLS
Recognized and registered in Washington D.C., the National Council of Associations of Chinese Language Schools (NCACLS) was formally established on April, 15, 1994. The birth of the Association is in response to the urgent needs from all over the country, first initiated by the Southern California Chinese School Association, and immediately got concerted positive response from other regional Chinese School Associations. The founding member associations include East CSA, Houston CSA, SE CSA, Northern California CSA, Colorado CSA, Dallas-Forth CSA, Midwest CSA, Michigan Chinese Immigrant CSA, NW CSA, and Southern California Chinese School Association. Later added members include Midwest-west CSA and Hawaii CSA in 1999, Florida CSA in 2002, and Washington Metropolitan Association of Chinese Schools in 2005 and Association of New Jersey Chinese Schools in 2010. Currently it has 15 member associations spreading throughout the United States, and serving member schools with total student numbers around 80,000.
The mission of NCACLS is:
- Represent member schools in participating national or international affairs that have major impacts on members interests.
- Adhere to establish guideline principles and Association Objectives, plan and sponsor national events relevant to Chinese Language Education.
- Function as a non-profit, non-political organization while keeping its unique character as an independent educational entity.
Its objectives are:
- Broaden the scope of Chinese Language and cultural learning, Augments the process of merging with academic mainstream, both in the USA as well as the international arena.
- Consolidate the membership and safeguard the common interests of member schools.
- Reinvent the course of actions by further improving on both the quality and overall image of member schools.
Website:
www.NCACLS.net
NEALRC
The National East Asian Languages Resource Center (NEALRC), The Ohio State University
As a National Language Resource Center since 1993, the NEALRC’s mission is to conduct collaborative projects designed to increase the nation’s capacity to produce Americans with advanced proficiency in East Asian languages.
NEALRC directs resources toward its core concerns by: 1) engaging with other organizations to develop extended sequences of language courses, especially in the K-12 field; 2) providing low-stakes language assessments for programs and individuals, and creating and maintaining tools for learners and teacher training of East Asian languages; 3) producing research and materials that facilitate reaching advanced levels through improved teaching and learning resources.
NEALRC projects for the cycle 2014-2018 fall into three general categories:
I. Strengthen East Asian language programs
1) National Chinese Language and Culture Coalition (NCLCC) which was formed by CLASS, CSAUS, and NCACLS in the PreK-12 field, with NEALRC as a facilitator.
2) Pathways to Advanced Skills series which offer program builders and teachers conceptual and pedagogical resources for advancing their teaching and program-building missions.
II. Create online tools for learners and teachers of East Asian languages
1) CAVO (Computer Adaptive VOcabulary Assessment), an online tool to allow the users to choose a text and take low stakes tests on its vocabulary, to conduct a frequency analysis of the expressions in a text, and to present instant glosses for the text.
2) Reader’s Tools present online texts with accompanying audio and a concordance function to permit learners to read original texts along with the appropriate audio track and to compare elements of a text with all the usages of that element occurring in that text, such as Confucius’ Analects, Laozi’s Daode Jing, and Sunzi’s The Art of War.
III. Develop materials that support gaining advanced skills in East Asian languages
1) Localized Intermediate to Advanced Materials to the place where the instruction is occurring. Examples include Perform Suzhou: A Course in Intermediate to Advanced Spoken Mandarin.
2) A Course Package of Learning Materials which includes an electronic version of a novel, audio program, TV series with concurrent scripts, and lesson plans for advanced level students of Chinese.
Website:
NEALRC.OSU.EDU