District 67 Parent Speaks to BOE in Support of Mandarin Immersion Program

Note: Submitted by Jennifer Mulloy of Lake Forest after presenting it to the Lake Forest District 67 school board on Dec. 17, 2013.

All of our children have different needs. We are fortunate to live in a community that has the means and access to resources to provide a variety of innovative learning experiences. We need to preserve parents’ choices to provide the best learning experience for each individual child, so that all children can be successful emotionally, socially, and academically.

My child needs to continue in the Mandarin Immersion program, because it provides her joy and confidence that carries over into everything she does. It would be devastating for all of the children in this program to take away an experience they have enjoyed, and invested so much time and effort into.

My background is in Elementary and Special Education. I had the wonderful experience of teaching at a school in Connecticut that offered an immersion option, it was amazing.

My husband and I chose the Mandarin Immersion program, because of the age at which a second language was introduced, and because research has shown immersion instruction to be highly effective. We didn’t care if it was Spanish, Mandarin, or something else.

It is important to note that research by such experts as Tara Fortune at the University of Minnesota (who has studied language instruction across the globe for over 30 years) demonstrates that immersion instruction in any language is the most successful model of near native acquisition of a second language. Traditional language instruction across the U.S. is on the decline, but immersion programs are on the rise.

I would also like to address the concerns about Special Education learners and immersion learning, especially in a language like Mandarin. As I stated earlier I have a Master’s degree in Special Education with a focus on interrelated learning disabilities. In addition, I myself have a diagnosed learning disability, and my husband is dyslexic. (A true dyslexic cannot connect the sound and symbol making the acquisition of language through phonics based instruction virtually impossible.) Due to our learning disabilities, the method, and age of which traditional language instruction is introduced in the U.S., we were unsuccessful in acquiring a second language.

The beauty of learning a language like Mandarin is that it is picture based, not phonics based, which is easier for many students with learning disabilities to learn. The confidence that comes from being successful in the ability to read and write in Mandarin then carries over into a learning disabled child’s English instruction.

I am grateful to the administration for providing such an opportunity for my child and all children in District 67. Change is hard, change is scary, but we have to evolve!

Thank you for your time,

Jennifer Mulloy

Lake Forest Resident & Cherokee School Parent