A Chinese language and cultural program that was snubbed by Toronto School District has won School District 43 a prestigious award and helped draw fee-paying foreign students here.
A photo from the district's Confucius Institute website.
As many as 700 students are enrolled in evening and weekend classes in SD43's six-year-old Confucius Institute to learn Mandarin, Chinese painting, calligraphy and the martial art kung fu. This past fall, the program won an award from Hanban, a government agency linked to China's Ministry of Education, giving the district even more credibility as a place for Chinese students to get their schooling in English, according to new SD43 superintendent Patricia Gartland.
"You can't easily get that award, you have to have some kind of outstanding opportunities you've provided," said Gartland, acknowledging that the achievements of SD43 student Sophie Greenwood may have helped the district win the award.
Greenwood, a Grade 10 student, won the BC Chinese Bridge Mandarin Speech contest last year and went to China in the fall to compete in the finals.
The success of the district's Confucius Institute has been partly credited for SD43's astounding success in attracting foreign students. Typically, about 1,000 students attend SD43 schools but, in recent years, those numbers have been increasing. This year saw a boost of 400 students above the 1,150 who enrolled in 2013/'14, bringing an additional $20 million into the district and helping the district balance its $270-million budget.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Approximately 70% of students in SD43's international education program are from China, including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and Gartland said the Confucius Institute accreditation is helping SD43 solidify relationships with agencies and families, bringing students here and increasing the district's profile as a good place to get an education.
At left, Patricia Gartland, superintendent of School District 43 who also heads up the district's international education department.
"It's not a one-sided relationship, it's a two-way relationship, there are students learning English, we're learning Chinese," Gartland said of the benefits of Confucius Institute.
The institute brings other benefits, as well, including about $50,000 for Walton elementary school's Mandarin bilingual program, which expands to Scott Creek middle school next year, plus books, materials and four interactive video screens, one of which went to Coquitlam Public Library.
Students pay about $200 to enrol, covering the costs of about 40 teachers who lead the various courses at Winslow Centre. Gartland said the district chooses the teachers, noting that the curriculum is cultural and linguistic, not political, as has been charged by critics of the Confucius Institute in Toronto. In that school district, trustees cancelled the institute and paid back funding after groups protested the arrangement.
NO OPPOSITION TO INSTITUTE
Gartland said there has been no opposition here and, judging by the large enrolment, Confucius Institute is widely regarded and accepted as a place to learn Chinese language and culture.
"Parents want to equip their children to be successful in the new global contest and Mandarin is one of the most important languages," said Gartland.
Parents with students attending school through the district's international education department also take their children's education very seriously and some even protested during the recent teachers' strike, saying they wanted their fees refunded for time lost.
