Dear colleagues,
I would like to know if you, especially those who teach at secondary
schools (private or public), have plans for your
students to take
SAT II Chinese Test, I wonder if your school
expects you to do so.
Maybe it is already part of your curriculum.
Whatever the case,
please let me know. Many thanks!!!
Ji Jianguo
jj104@columbia.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------I teach at Livingston High School in New Jersey. Our school does not
require student to take the SAT II Chinese test. But we encourage
them to do so.
-Lucy Lee
llee@livingston.org
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I teach at the Bronx High School of Science in New
York. My students
have to pass a New York State Regents type exam for
foreign language
credit. I do not encourage them to take the
SAT II exam because the
few that did were very discouraged with their
results. A grade of 600
was in the 10th percentile. I tell them to try it
if they want it but only
the regents is necessary.
Elaine Zanicchi
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Elaine,
Do you have some sample test of New York State Regents type exam
or where I can find it? I am teaching
in a private school where no test
is required, but I am sure I can use it
as a reference. Thank you very
much in advance if you can email some
info.
All the best,
Michelle Liu
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Dear Michelle,
The Regents exam in Chinese, which was really only a sample exam,
was discontinued 3 years ago. I recommend
that if you want back
copies of the exams to contact the New York State
Education
Department in Albany. They will be happy to
mail you a copy.
Elaine
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Dear Ji Jianguo,
The students at my high school who take the SAT II
test are generally native Chinese speakers who have
immigrated to the U.S. sometime between 6th to 9th
grade. A few American-born students also take the
test, if their parents have really stressed Chinese
language training from an early age. Their decision
to take the test is a family or personal one; I do not
recommend the test to anyone, and I certainly do not
take up my class time to prepare anyone for it. I am
personally very unsupportive of the SAT II test.
However, I am eagerly awaiting the development of an
AP test in Chinese; if such a test existed, I would
want to teach an AP course geared to that test.
I hope this is helpful. May I know the reason for
your inquiry?
Sincerely,
Phyllis T. Chen
phyllistchen@yahoo.com
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Dear Phyllis,
Thank you very much for the feedback.
I agree with you that a possible specific preparation for SAT II test
shouldn't be confused with out regular teaching.
They are two
different categories of concepts as well as
practices.
Part of the reason for my inquiry is the fact that some people
(schools or parents) may not really know about the
above-mentioned
difference and that they may use this as an unreasonable
excuse to
make unreasonable demand on us - which will
interfer with our regular
pace of language skills development.
Thanks again. Keep in touch.
Ji
jj104@columbia.ed