US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence

The state worked with Disney Publishing Worldwide and its educational division last year to develop a pilot project to put Mickey and Donald in eight third-grade classrooms. Disney took Maryland's reading standards and created comics-based lesson plans, incorporating skills students needed to learn, such as how to understand plot and character.

China sent more than 400 volunteers to teach Mandarin in Thailand, the largest number of volunteers since China launched its program to send volunteers abroad to teach the Chinese language, the overseas edition of People's Daily reported on Monday. This is the fourth batch of volunteers sent to Thailand since China launched the teaching program in 2004.

CAN'T get your child to read anything substantial - always got their head in a comic? A new series of graphic novels will change your mind - and improve your child's lexicon. Graphic novel hero Van Von Hunter doesn't slam or kaboom his enemies but eradicates and relinquishes them in this series of graphic novels designed to boost teenagers' vocabularies. The educational services provider Kaplan is releasing three popular graphic novels featuring manga - the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons - with hundreds of words tested in US college admission exams.

More than 9.5 million Chinese students on Thursday started the national college entrance examination, the largest of its kind in the world. The exam is regarded as one of the most important events for the participants, and could change their lives in a fiercely competitive society.

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected school diversity plans that take account of students’ race in two major public school districts. The decision in cases affecting schools in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle could imperil similar plans in hundreds of districts nationwide, and it leaves public school systems with a limited arsenal to maintain racial diversity.

Hong Kong's academic freedom has not been affected by the irregularities discovered by the commission investigating the controversy surrounding the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). This was the conclusion of the commission's report submitted to Chief Executive Donald Tsang yesterday. Fanny Law, former permanent secretary for education and manpower, resigned as head of Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for her previous role in the HKIEd incident. Law's resignation, made after the Commission of Inquiry has found her interfering with the academic freedom of HKIEd academics who criticized the education reform, was accepted by the CE who announced it in a press conference yesterday.

Universities are under pressure to work with employers to deliver the skills training increasingly demanded by government - which means innovative programmes are springing up on and off campuses.

The educational authorities in central China's Henan Province, the recognized home of Shaolin Kung Fu, are considering rejecting the Ministry of Education's proposal to introduce the waltz to schools nationwide in favor of the traditional martial art.

The school district said Monday it regretted ordering a picture of a male student kissing his boyfriend blacked out from all copies of a high school yearbook and said it apologized to the student.

Shanghai students learning a foreign language can now practice in authentic surroundings, with the opening of a new language-training center Wednesday. The 12 training labs at Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Foreign Language College are decorated in the styles of the countries being studied.

If you would like to sign up for this free service and receive Hot Topics in US-China Education, simply register with us. [Register]

Note: If you cannot see the links or images in this e-mail, register to receive future e-mails in text format only.

The Center wants you to receive Hot Topics at your preferred e-mail address. Please notify us if your e-mail address has changed. Send your name and new e-mail address to cnus@msu.edu. Be sure to let us know your old e-mail address so we can remove it from our list. We also welcome new subscribers. Feel free to forward this subscription information to others.

Hot Topics is produced by the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence which is funded by the Sun Wah Education Foundation.