Senate Deputy Leader Gianaris Announces $10,000 Grant For PS/IS 78Q’s Mandarin Language Program, Preparing Students For A Global Economy

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. – Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris announced a $10,000 grant to support PS/IS 78Q’s Interactive Language Program which begins preparing students for a global economy by using technology to facilitate early-age foreign language instruction from teachers across the globe. Senator Gianaris made this announcement during the school’s first PTA meeting of the school year.

“The world is increasingly interconnected and our economy is increasingly reliant on knowledge of other cultures and their languages. This is an incredible program equipping students from an early age to have the skills needed to thrive,” said Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris. “New York needs to invest in the next generation of economic leaders and programs like this one at PS/IS 78Q make a big difference.”

"Our social and economic future hinges on inter-cultural communication and PS/IS 78Q's unique Chinese language program is instrumental in rearing the next generation of leaders," said Louis Pavone, PS/IS 78Q Principal. "I thank Senator Gianaris for his commitment to help fund this important Program and his ongoing support of our school community."  

“We would like to thank Senator Gianaris for his generous contribution to help fund the My Chinese Teacher Interactive Language Program at PS/IS 78 and for his continued commitment to our school community.  Exposure to multiple languages and cultures is important for our young learners and Senator Gianaris is helping us cultivate an environment at our school where we are able to offer exciting and enriching programs like this to our students. We look forward to his continued patronage in the future,” said Bree Chambers and Genevieve Bernier, Co-Presidents of the PS/IS 78Q PTA.
 
My Chinese Teacher Program, MCT, is a Mandarin foreign language program using technology to connect to a China-based teaching team. The Chinese teacher uses video conferencing technology and connects to the classroom to provide a Chinese language and culture program.

The classroom receives a weekly 25-minute Mandarin lesson by video conference while classroom teachers provide follow up instruction taking students through their workbooks, pronunciation videos and by introducing Chinese language and culture concepts across the rest of the school curriculum.

Students also have opportunities to interact with their Chinese teacher by sending them postcards, sharing photos from their school through our learning platform and engaging in other blended learning activities

Photos from Senator Gianaris’ announcement are available here: https://bit.ly/2nzvqmx.