Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/686175
know better, you would think they were native speakers. eir pronunciation and tone is better than many Tai- wanese people. ey excel not only in Chinese, but math and English. I am very proud of them." She is also proud of the parents, who have been extremely supportive with fundraising and volunteer work for the program, providing books, dictionaries and laptops. E X T R A WO R K LOA D, H I G H T U R N OV E R Until recently, teachers in Azevada Elementary School's Mandarin DI program had to create their own curric- ulum. Materials have become available, however, and teachers are using lessons they created along with a new Common Core-aligned program the district purchased. The situation is not unique: Finding curriculum aligned with the new standards has been a challenge for all DI teachers regardless of language. "Dual immersion is hard enough dealing with differ- ent languages and language levels. Finding materials makes it even more difficult," says Sandoval, whose school is using a Common Core program translated into Spanish from McGraw-Hill. Teaching D I i s more w ork for t each ers, in gen - eral. Members of United Educators of San Francisco who teach in Cantonese and Mandarin DI programs addressed the school board in February to ask for ade- quate pay, support and training for the extra work that's required, which includes conducting assessments and writing report cards in both Chinese and English. UESF filed a grievance to compensate teach- ers for their extra work. Turnover in some DI programs has been an issue in San Francisco, and in a few cases necessitated relying on sub- stitutes and a paraprofessional to teach Mandarin at Starr King Elementar y School, which has angered parents. e high turnover rate is likely due in part to average salaries that are lower than in neighboring cities, and the city's higher cost of living. Hiring qualified DI teachers in San Francisco and similar areas is hard for those reasons. Also, there is fierce competition for Manda- rin teachers in particular because there are fewer qualified to teach Giving Students the Ed.G.E. The California Education for a Global Economy (Ed.G.E.) Initiative, on the November 2016 ballot, expands multilingual education programs to better prepare students for college and careers in a global economy (see preparestudents.org). Ed.G.E. would: • Overturn Proposition 227 (1998), which mandated English-only education. • Allow school districts, together with language experts and parents, to determine the best instruction methods and language acquisition programs to implement. • Provide all parents with the choice to have their children educated to high standards in English and one or more additional languages, and encourage local schools to provide opportunities for native English-speaking pupils to be instructed in another language. • Allow parents to request school districts to provide multilingual programs. Jamie Choi at Azevada Elementary does "a lot of charades" for her beginning students. Above right, writing lesson at the Santa Rosa French- American Charter School. 28 cta.org