Elaborate displays and colorful flourishes adorned the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games, placing the international spotlight on Beijing over the weekend.
With the focus on China’s global status influencing the rest of the world, Point Loma schools have been preparing for that country’s continuing economic advent.
Barnard Elementary School, 2930 Barnard St., teaches the Mandarin Chinese language and culture as part of the school’s magnet program ” the first of its kind for San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) elementary schools, according to district officials.
Dana Middle School grades five and six also will start new Mandarin language classes this year, and Point Loma High School, 2335 Chatsworth St., will begin two Mandarin language courses with an enrollment of 60 students already, school officials said.
Corriea Middle School, 4302 Valeta St., plans to pick up continuing language courses starting next year for students coming from Dana.
Edward Park, Barnard Elementary School’s new principal, is settling into his first weeks on the job and said the magnet program gives Point Loma students an advantage in an increasingly competitive global economy. He added that he hopes the program will help boost enrollment in the school.
The school can hold more than 300 students. However, an estimated 175 students are now enrolled, Park said.
“[Barnard Elementary] is a flower waiting to bloom,” Park said. “And it will, when parents find out about it.”
Over the last year, administrators have been teaching K-4 students the Mandarin Chinese language and culture as part of the SDUSD’s magnet program at Barnard.
Park said the program prepares students for the international business world, where a lot of people now speak Mandarin Chinese.
At Barnard, students spend about 40 minutes a day learning the language and culture through calligraphy, music, drama, festivals and physical education, according to school officials.
Park, embracing his new position as Barnard’s principal, said the program is open to any parent who wants to enroll his or her child.
Park said the school district can also provide bus transportation.
The results of a SDUSD survey of parents in 2006 revealed Mandarin Chinese as one of the languages the district’s parents wanted children to learn. It came in third, behind Spanish and French as the preferred foreign languages to teach.
Park said he is willing to help parents teach their children the language skills children may need for international success.
With about 13 years as an educator and school administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District under his belt, Park has been working with educators in China who have the experience needed to teach children and who can provide resources for teachers.
Park helped promote Korean language courses in middle and high schools in Los Angeles and now wants to help SDUSD children learn Mandarin.
Point Loma students, and U.S. students in general, would benefit from learning about languages and cultures in Asia and from countries around the Pacific Rim, he said.
The Pacific Rim emcompasses the countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean, including the island countries of the South Pacific.
Many students from nations along the Pacific Rim learn Mandarin Chinese, he said.
To supplement the Mandarin magnet program, every student at Barnard Elementary has access to laptop computers and other technological resources. This also helps give students an “academically rigorous” program that is “well-wired,” Park said.
Carol Barry, chief elementary school improvement officer, said she hopes the program will attract new parents.
“We want to see [Barnard elementary] move and be something that’s special about the Point Loma Cluster [schools] “¦ and we want to see the numbers grow,” she said.
San Diego High’s business school currently has a Mandarin magnet program.
The Barnard Elementary Mandarin Chinese magnet program fits into a larger strategy to expand the magnet curriculum throughout the school district.
The SDUSD Board of Education voted Aug. 5 to establish a magnet music program at Crown Point Elementary in Pacific Beach.
Barnard Elementary has been part of the Point Loma community since 1944 and began as a school to educate children of Navy personnel stationed at Point Loma after World War II, according to school officials.
To introduce himself to the community, Park will hold a “coffee talk” with neighbors and interested parents on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 10 a.m. to noon at Barnard Elementary, 2930 Barnard St.
For more information or to enroll a student, call (619) 725-5672, or visit www.barnardelementary.com.