CLTA-GNY 2009 Annual Conference

&

Seventh New York International Conference on the Teaching of Chinese

Chinese as a World Language:
New Approaches, New Technologies, Opportunities and Challenges

"From Beijing to Austin:
Chinese Comes to Texas"

(3) Administration

Proposal Submitted

by

Michael G. Hydak, Ph.D.

This session will describe the history of Chinese instruction in the public schools of the Austin Independent School District, the fifth largest public school district in the state of Texas. The session also addresses the administrative challenges faced-and facing-the teaching of Chinese in Austin and, to a very similar degree, in Texas.

The talk begins with a general description of the school district and of the particular nature of the financial issues facing it, specifically, the fact that Austin is a "property-rich" district in Texas. Being property-rich means that locally raised tax dollars have to be sent back to the state to help poorer districts under the so-called "Robin Hood" plan or Chapter 41, as it is more properly called. The district's demographics are also discussed, as far as they affect the teaching of Chinese. Relatively few of our students are heritage or native speakers of the languages, for example.

The history of Chinese instruction in our school district really begins in January 2006 with the signing of an agreement between the Austin ISD School Board and the Asian Society authorizing the establishment of a Center for Global Studies at Stephen F. Austin High School. A condition of that agreement was the teaching of an Asian language. Chinese was subsequently introduced at another high school, Anderson High School, and one of its major "feeder" middle schools, Murchison Middle School. A Chinese program has been proposed at yet another high school, Eastside Memorial High School, for the fall of 2009. Staffing these positions has been a complex issue, to say the least. A combination of approaches has been used, including "volunteer" teachers from the College Board/Hanban Program, visiting teachers from the Teachers of Critical Languages Program sponsored by American Councils for International Education, a branch of the U.S State Department, and simply local hiring. The advantages and disadvantages of all three are discussed.

Textbooks and curriculum are also challenges to be faced by the school district, as is the problem of introducing a language in a competitive arena where other language teachers see Chinese as a rival for student enrollment. The talk concludes on a note of optimism.