Mandarin

Opinion: Don’t get ‘river-crabbed!’ How China is cracking down on punny dissent

China's government is censoring puns and wordplay on-line. NPR's Scott Simon explains why double meanings are a problem for Beijing.

Bilingual Ed in the South: Another School Across the Border (in GA)

As public schools become more linguistically diverse, some see bilingual or “dual-language” programs as a way to improve education for all – English speakers too. Yesterday we checked out an innovative dual-language school in a low-income Georgia neighborhood just outside Atlanta. Today we’ll visit a program 50 miles to the northeast, where staff combine the […]

Birmingham to Beijing

Lack of exposure to other kinds of people, languages, and ideas is a disadvantage for poor rural and urban students across the country. Inner-city Birmingham is no exception, but six local high school students are hoping to become exceptional ... in more ways than one. Thanks to their hard work and the efforts of a first-year teacher, they're planning to study in China this summer. Our Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen has the story.