Seeking Distance Chinese Literacy courses

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Timothy Beach

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Mar 17, 2012, 3:30:01 AM3/17/12
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By way of introduction, I'm the father of a 15 year-old boy who has lived in Taiwan where he has been bilingually home-schooled his whole life.  His core academic courses are all in English via U.S.-based accredited distance-learning high school programs through which he earns high school credit.  He's Chinese studies are based on a combination of local and imported materials.  Our problem is that his Chinese studies are currently taking up a lot of time, but he's not earning any credit for them.  It has occurred to me that this needs to change, because we are helping him prepare for early college entrance.  Because he has grown up in bilingual home environment (my wife is Taiwanese), he doesn't need any speaking practice; he just needs to focus on furthering his reading and writing skills.  Unfortunately, virtually all of the online Chinese high school and community college courses I've found so far are aimed only at beginning-level, Chinese-as-a-Second-Language Learners.  Based on my personal assessment of his Chinese learning and academic needs, the ideal distance-learning course(s) would include the following features:

  •  a focus on intermediate-level reading and writing skills
  • preferably dual (high school & college) credit available
  • year-round enrollment (we really need to start ASAP rather than waiting for a new term to begin)
  • preferably reasonably priced!
  • preferably focuses on traditional characters (which is the only form that he currently learning to write, although is slowly learning to read simplified as well as traditional characters).
Although we may not find all of these desired features in the same course, I hope that we can find at least most of them.  My hunch is that there are likely one or more Chinese instructors in the larger U.S. academic community who are more knowledgeable about  what's available in this rapidly changing world of Chinese distance learning than I could possibly be.  It is this assumption that has led me to contact you today.  I look forward to hearing any suggestions you might have.  Also, please feel free to pass this plea for info along to anyone whom you think might be able to direct me to a suitable course or courses for my son.  I thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Timothy Beach
Taichung, Taiwan

Timothy Beach

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Mar 18, 2012, 2:05:51 AM3/18/12
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Dear Fellow Homeschoolers,

My thanks to Lisa and Bill for your responses. Lisa, I found the Mich. Virtual School Chinese program while doing my search.  It's in cooperation with MIch. State Univ.'s Confucius Institute which I have sent the email info request that you responded to.  And I will continue sending out that info request as I come across individuals, groups or schools that I think might be able to offer me useful leads.

Bill, I'd be interested in knowing which high school gives your kids credit for RS.  In our case, I'd prefer to find a way for Nicholas to get dual credit or college credit.  Coastline College in Orange County has an online beginner course.  We're technically residents of Cal., so may be there's a chance we could enroll Nicholas on a dual credit basis.  But the level is so easy and is aimed at second language learners.  Nicholas only needs to work on reading and writing skills because he speaks fluently.  I'm confident that he'll pick up higher level oral skills as his reading skills improve.

The program that I sound most interesting so far is one at the Univ. of Hawaii.  It entirely focuses on reading. http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/certificates/students.htm  But at $861 for a 3-credit course, it's going to have to wait.  Besides, he would have to wait until the Fall - if they would even accept a high school kid.

I'm going to check out to see what might be available in Taiwan online that can possibly be accepted for credit in the U.S., and also there a online program in Beijing  that I need to check out.    I really wish that I had thought about this before as a possibility, especially considering all the time that Chinese study requires.

Timothy

On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 9:42 AM, Bill and Lisa Goodman <bgoo...@velocitytelephone.com> wrote:
 

We use Rosetta Stone which goes all the way up to advanced levels. It is also used by the government agencies and does an excellent job teaching the language. You may want to check it out. We homeschool and our children get high school credit for each level completed. It is a computer based program you can do at home. Lisa 

Lisa

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Mar 18, 2012, 2:25:46 AM3/18/12
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Are you looking at sending him to college I the US? If so he I don't believe he would need a school to give him the credits or at least it would be something to confirm. My daughter went to a smaller school so it maybe a bit different than the college you are looking at but I age her the credits. My son was accepted based on his ACT scores, he has done a mixed lot of public school and home school, but he will hae a homeschool diploma as the high school wouldn't not accept the homeschool classes for credit. Just my thoughts. Lisa


-------Original Message-------
From: Timothy Beach
To: chinesehom...@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Seeking Distance Chinese Literacy courses
Sent: 18 Mar '12 14:05

Dear Fellow Homeschoolers,

My thanks to Lisa and Bill for your responses.�Lisa, I found the Mich. Virtual School Chinese program while doing my search. �It's in cooperation with MIch. State Univ.'s Confucius Institute which I have sent the email info request that you responded to. �And I will continue sending out that info request as I come across individuals, groups or schools that I think might be able to offer me useful leads.

Bill, I'd be interested in knowing which high school gives your kids credit for RS. � In our case, I'd prefer to find a way for Nicholas to get dual credit or college credit. �Coastline College in Orange County has an online beginner course. �We're technically residents of Cal., so may be there's a chance we could enroll Nicholas on a dual credit basis. �But the level is so easy and is aimed at second language learners. �Nicholas only needs to work on reading and writing skills because he speaks fluently. � I'm confident that he'll pick up higher level oral skills as his reading skills improve.

�

__,_._,___

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Rhonda Kline

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Apr 3, 2012, 7:04:02 AM4/3/12
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Hi Timothy,

If your son wants to go to America for college, I agree with the other person helping you.  My older son was also homeschooled through high school and got accepted to Bowdoin, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and Vassar.  We self graded and had a report card made for us by a school working only with home schooled children living in any country.  My son passed the HSK level 3, but this is it, no other credit.  More important were his SAT and AP scores.  

Rhonda



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