Hong Kong Academy: Director of Pre-K to Grade 8 CSL Program.

Hong Kong Academy seeks a visionary, highly accomplished educator to assume leadership of its ongoing effort to create a progressive Putonghua curriculum. HKA, an independent, nonprofit, co-educational day school, was founded in September 2000 to provide an outstanding international education for expatriate and local children in the Hong Kong SAR. In its second year of operation the school was awarded candidacy for accreditation by WASC and is anticipating authorization by the International Baccalaureate Organization for its Primary Years Programme. Development of constructivist, experiential Mandarin as a Second Language program was among the school’s founding missions. To this end the curriculum is structured around major topics (e.g., The Marketplace, Sports, The Arts) that culminate in school-wide events; opportunities are created for students to use their Putonghua in real-life settings (e.g., twice weekly Mandarin Snack Shop), and the school is now embarking on a major initiative to create technology applications to support the program. Ultimately, our goal is to codify a curriculum that can be widely shared with the growing number of communities and institutions that teach or would like to teach Putonghua to non-native speakers. Interested professionals are urged to contact co-director Ben Frankel who will be attending and interviewing during the upcoming ACTFL/CLTA conference in Philadelphia. Please e-mail ben.frankel@hkacademy.edu.hk or contact in person at Philadelphia Marriott. Qualified and experienced teachers are also encouraged to apply for teaching positions.