Despite Portland's public-school funding problems, the district runs such an impressive Chinese immersion program that a federal agency was persuaded to award a prestigious grant to extend the program to university undergraduates.
The Department of Defense has awarded two grants totaling $1.7 million to the University of Oregon to develop a new Chinese education program that will ultimately teach students ranging from kindergarten through the undergraduate years.
The Oregon Chinese K-16 Flagship Program, which just enrolled its first 10 undergraduates last month at UO's Eugene campus, is the first of its kind in the United States. It will likely to serve as a model for other programs around the country.
The program could also help Oregon do more business in China, and win more investment from the fast-developing Asian nation, the world's largest market.
The flagship program is the brainchild of UO's Center for Applied Second Language Studies, which develops curricula and assessment tools for language learning. The center also organizes educational travel and provides services for foreign language teachers around the state.
Carl Falsgraf, director of the language center, applied for the first Department of Defense grant last summer, knowing that the competition would be stiff. At least a dozen universities applied, including the University of Washington and several large institutions in California.
Flagship programs sponsored by the Defense Department's National Security Education Program have been available at the post-graduate level for 15 years, in what are considered "critical" languages: Arabic, Chinese, Iranian Farsi, Korean and Russian, primarily.
But starting serious language studies as an adult is not nearly so effective as beginning in kindergarten. With that in mind, the federal education program is now funding three initial K-16 programs. Besides Oregon, another Chinese program is under way in Ohio, and an Arabic program in Michigan.
Unlike the post-graduate students in programs NSEP has been funding for years, UO's freshmen will not concentrate solely on Chinese. Instead, they will choose their own majors, while simultaneously studying Chinese at an intensity level that will surpass the usual coursework -- and resulting proficiency -- of a traditional Chinese language major.
To achieve this, some "content" courses will be offered in Chinese -- obvious courses like Chinese history and culture, but also, as the program matures, courses in chemistry and other sciences.
Along with each content course, UO will offer a course that teaches the vocabulary particular to that subject area, as well as study techniques such as note-taking, how to listen to a lecture in Chinese, and how to do research and write a paper.
Falsgraf wasn't certain that Oregon would measure up to competing universities that have larger Chinese language departments. "But we are on the Pacific Coast, and we have lots of Chinese-speaking faculty in content areas," he said. "We would need to hire just one more person to do the language pedagogy that would go along with each class."
What really drew the notice of the National Security language department's director, Bob Slater, was "the effectiveness of collaboration between the university and Portland Public Schools."
That was clearly happening in Oregon, despite the fact that UO is not even in Portland. The university's language studies center develops student assessments and curriculum for Portland Public Schools' three immersion programs in Chinese, Spanish and Japanese, and also provides teacher training and pedagogical research.
Slater was also struck by the fact that, even with severe budget restrictions, Portland has an "extraordinary, impressive institutional commitment to language education."
"It sends a message that there are ways of including immersion programs in a [traditional] curriculum."
While NSEP is committed to funding the flagship program for some time, the agency's budget is just $16 million per year; eventually, programs are expected to find ways to support themselves.
Here too, Oregon made an impression. "Oregon has been most progressive and innovative in attracting other funding," said Slater. One Portland-area businessman has given $100,000 to the Flagship program.
Portland's Chinese immersion program has been running for nine years, and now includes 240 children from kindergarten through eighth grade. This year, the program was so popular, it added a second kindergarten class, for a total of 60 new children.
Portland also has a "heritage" Chinese program for about 90 students whose first language is Chinese. The program helps these students learn academic subjects in Chinese as they acquire English.
Having such intensive Chinese programs in Oregon sends a message that Oregon is open for business with the largest Asian nation. Extending intensive Chinese study to the undergraduate level only reinforces that message of interest and commitment.
"Programs like this support our goals of encouraging investment from China," said Karen Goddin, international trade manager for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department.
It will also help Oregon businesses if they can hire professionals who are proficient in Chinese, said Jin Lan, a Vancouver consultant who works with local businesses seeking customers, suppliers or investors in China.
"It's extremely important to have bilingual management people," when doing business in China, Lan said. "You can make quicker decisions and grasp cultural innuendoes better, giving you an advantage in making deals."
aearnshaw@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3433