Updates and news on grant-funded projects at Yinghua Academy:

Teachers of Critical Languages Program
Welcome to Donghua Lu! Donghua is a guest teacher this year from Harbin, China. She is teaching Chinese Arts and Culture instruction for 4-7th grade classes. Her work at Yinghua is part of an American Councils for International Education Teachers of Critical Languages Program to support the study of Mandarin.  Donghua’s bio is available online at the American Councils website.

STARTALK-funded Summer Camps
With rave reviews from our grant funder, we have been encouraged to continue providing a summer camp program for the coming summer. Last year, 88 students participated in our STARTALK-funded summer Chinese immersion camps. We’re looking forward to another great summer next year.

Middle School Program
Continued development of the middle school program, with support from the Foreign Language Assistance Program. Many new staff are involved in this project this year, including bilingual science and math teachers, and new social studies and Chinese Language Arts teachers.

Confucius Institute
Continued relationship with the University of Minnesota’s Confucius Institute as a Confucius Classroom school, which provides additional support for Chinese language learning.

Chinese Artist Partnership
A new partnership with visiting Chinese Artists through the Perpich Center Arts and Schools as Partners program. This year 5th grade students will have the opportunity to create the Chinese New Year stage design with assistance from two local Chinese artists known for painting, sculpture, and murals. (One of the artists, Susan Hsiu, has a mural on display in our north stairwell).

Minneapolis Healthy Schools Initiative
The Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities Initiative with the City of Minneapolis has created a school health and wellness team, completed a health and wellness assessment, and started making improvements, like the new bike racks in the front of the building, based on the assessment.

Eco Education
We have just been accepted as a partner in an Eco Education project for our middle school students. Science Teacher, Yao Laoshi, will be working with students to investigate local green businesses in the Urban Understory program.

These are just some of the additional resources available to Yinghua Academy students through grants and partners. If you have ideas for projects, connections with foundations, or generous employers(!), please contact karen@yinghuaacademy.org.