Add Value with Foreign-Language Component

This post was written by Vicky Hsiang, who is student at the University of Washington Intensive Business English Program. She has the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree in Spanish from her native Taiwan, and is interning with us during Spring Quarter.

Nowadays, cultures are more and more globally connected, but the U.S. is somehow falling behind, especially in education.

According to an editorial in The Seattle Times (April 7, 2010), Seattle Public Schools have language-immersion programs to help solve this education problem. In these programs, students are taught 50 percent of the time in English, and the rest of the time in a foreign language. The test results show that students who are in these programs have higher scores overall than those who are taught in English only.

Educators also point out that students in elementary school can learn foreign languages more easily than others. In Seattle, nearly 50 percent of elementary students are eligible for bilingual education. Seattle’s language-immersion programs are very successful, and they could help improve the quality of education in the U.S.

From my experience, in Asian countries, all the students must study their native language and English in elementary school. For example, in Taiwan, our government made English one of the main subjects in elementary school 12 years ago. Nowadays, trilingualism is more and more common among the younger generation.

In school we study English at least 10 hours per week, which is why most students have high scores. However, in Asian countries there is an interesting phenomenon: those students are only good at reading, listening and grammar, not conversation. They know a lot of English vocabulary, but they cannot speak it. The main reason is the high student-teacher ratio; there are more than 35 students in one class, so students really don’t have a chance to speak during the class. Moreover, students tend to be quiet during the class out of respect for the teacher. It is hard to encourage students to speak. Some educators discovered this problem, so now there are many ways to study in the U.S. or other countries.

In the future, we’ll have even more opportunities to go to other countries. Even if you don’t travel, you can still meet people from other countries and exchange ideas with them. Communication is very important, not only in our native language but also in other languages. When you talk to people from other countries in their native language, they will feel you are very friendly and eager to know their culture.

If you would like to reference the editorial, click here.

Javier Cáceres: The Next Guillermo del Toro?

I am so proud of my high school alma mater. Shorewood High School recently took on a challenge by rival Shorecrest to create a music video. And in my humble opinion, SW still rules!

I saw the video on You Tube by way of Twitter, but now after reading Nicole Brodeur's column in The Seattle Times, I am truly blown away.

Javier Cáceres created, with probably hundreds of classmates participating, the most amazing video, "Shorewood Lip Dub." Cáceres conceived this thing, and choreographed it, *backwards*. That's right: Everyone in the video was moving forward but singing backwards, so when he played the video backwards, all students are lip-synching perfectly to the music--but walking, dancing backwards!

The coolest part of all is that Javier Cáceres is a high school senior--from Peru. He came to the States just six years ago with his family. He didn't speak much English then, but now he's a Running Start student with dreams of becoming a director. According to the Times columnist, even Ben Stiller and Ashton Kutcher are tweeting about this genius.

This is the American dream, folks.

Global Partnerships, in the Business of Hope

This past weekend, there were a couple of articles in The Seattle Times that caught my eye.

One was an editorial entitled, "Especially in hard times, we must invest in our women." This article espoused the idea that families and communities can be best helped through the women: "More than ever before, women are playing a critical role in protecting the well-being of our families and communities."

This immediately reminded me of one of my pet causes, Global Partnerships. And sure enough--the editorial was co-authored by Leanne Moss and Bill and Paula Clapp--the latter two being the founders of that very organization. Global Partnerships is a fabulous cause that works with women in rural Latin America, most of them indigenous, offering hope for self-sufficiency, self-esteem and equality through microcredit loans.

What first lured me in? That just $50 of mine can help a woman get on her feet, starting a business doing something she knows how: weaving, baking, sewing, retail ... She pays that loan off and the $50 goes to the next woman who has a skill she'd like to share to put a roof over her family's heads, or help see her kids get educated.

I saw a documentary, No Son Invisibles, during the Seattle International Latino Film Festival a few weeks' back that showed in amazing detail the kind of help and hope organizations like Global Partnerships can bring to a community. It all starts with one woman, and what we may consider pocket change. Then she's in business, working hard, and she's relatively successful--and it's contagious. The other women want to have that, too. They make a pact (peer lending) whereby in many cases no new loans are given until the first one is paid off, and the lendee is held accountable by her peers as well as by the lender. And then after paying off the first loan on time, she has an opportunity to borrow more to expand her business. And so on ...

So it's that time of year when I'd like to promote a very important event. It's the organization's annual fundraiser on Tuesday, October 20, 11:30am - 1:15pm at the Seattle Westin. Please consider attending the Global Partnerships Business of Hope Luncheon and learning about the wonderful ways this organization works to help the poor free themselves from poverty in Central and South America. I think they may in Mexico by now, as well. Here's a link to check out the event and learn more about the work Global Partnerships does.

The second article from the Times this past weekend was about how Global Partnerships and PATH are teaming up with Pro Mujer (Pro Woman) to bring health services to the same populations; as Global Partnerships CEO Rick Beckett points out, "poverty and poor health are inextricably linked." I'm sure this new partnership will be among the announcements they share with Business of Hope Luncheon attendees. I'll never forget the year they announced that my school, Seattle University, had invested a half-million dollars in their program. I can't tell you how proud I was to be affiliated with that school.

Events of past years have been wildly successful, and I'm really hoping this year is no different. The folks at Global Partnerships, like Chris Megargee, really show gratitude for their connections and donors. So, if you can afford to do it, go--and learn how so few American dollars can turn so many families around in rural Latin America.

The story of a migrant worker ...

I loved today's story which appeared in The Seattle Times--not a local story, but inspirational indeed.

A Mexican resident, Jose Hernández grew up with the California harvests. Seven days a week, when school was out. Hard work, relentless--and every evening at the end of the family's tough workday, his eyes would meet his dad's in the rearview mirror:

"Remember this feeling because if you guys don't do well in school, this is your future."

Apparently Jose took his dad's advice to heart, because he's blasting off with NASA this Tuesday. He earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in electrical engineering and since has been working toward this goal. In fact, all kids in this family finished not only high school--but college.

Salvador and Julia Hernández, both having completed just third-grade level, taught their children well. I think we'd all agree that education is part of what the American dream is all about, and every parent wants his/her kids to have all the opportunities in the world.

In high school, Jose witnessed the first Hispanic go into orbit and thought, "If he can do it, why not me?" And now he's helping young students achieve their potential in math, science, engineering and technology with the Reaching for the Stars foundation.

And, out of the seven astronauts taking flight this Tuesday, there will be another Mexican American, Danny Oliva, joining Jose on this dream. The first launch with two Hispanics, and the first launch with a bilingual Twittering astronaut! Follow him at http://twitter.com/astro(underscore)jose.

Take a read.

Multilingual School Meeting in Bellevue

Did you know that there are 80 different languages spoken by kids at Bellevue schools? It's really mind-boggling, especially for the administrators I imagine.

So they've done something innovative to better involve immigrant parents: They've designed a workshop to really bring the important messages home.

The importance of teaching coping skills to children will be the primary topic, and will be communicated in English. Then, parents of five languages have been chosen to lead smaller groups to help educate other parents on the same subject--in their native language.

The languages chosen for this workshop are Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Vietnamese. According to Assistant to the Superintendent Ann Oxrieder of Bellevue School District, this is the first time anything like this has been done in Bellevue. Kudos to the adminsitration for implementing this grassroots-level approach to involving more immigrant parents.

The meeting will take place on Monday evening at Sammamish High School, and is free. Read The Seattle Times article for more details!

Advertise in a Recession!

That's my motto for the day. Companies need to continue advertising, even in--especially in--a recession!

At today's Ad Club luncheon, we heard from a panel of experts. Among them, Mei Mei Chan, VP of Advertising at Seattle Times. She emphasized that those brands that advertise in a recession are the ones that will be more successful when the economy rebounds.

Ms. Chan also said that for those who in the past pulled their advertising during a recession, it's been shown to take 60% more time and money to get back to their position--in the hearts and minds of consumers--before the recession hit.

Interesting take. I think that there are two very basic reasons to keep your advertising intact:

1) Fewer people are doing it, so your ad shines more brightly.
2) Media are lowering their rates and are becoming even more creative with packages and other value-adds.

So what are you waiting for?

Sweet Valentine's Day Tie-In, Last Minute!

I HEART this story in today's Seattle Times about how a city turned a "no heavy petting" ordinance into a kiss-in! Also some good insight into the perspectives of Mexicans--and Latinos in general--on expressing their love in public.

Enjoy!