FAQ

加油！

Everything you always wanted to know about Mandarin immersion in the San Francisco Public Schools but didn’t know who to ask.  A parent-created list of Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome! 欢迎 你！

This FAQ  was created by the Mandarin Immersion Parents Council, which supports Mandarin immersion programs in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and the United States.

Sources include staff and parents at Starr King and Jose Ortega Elementary schools, Parents for Public Schools, the Center for Applied Linguistics, the Multilingual Programs Dept. at the San Francisco Unified School District and the Mandarin Immersion Coordinator of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office.

This FAQ was written by Beth Weise, a parent with two children in Mandarin Immersion at Starr King. It includes input from more than a dozen parents with children in Mandarin immersion. This document is a work-in-progress and does not represent official San Francisco Public School District policy. All errors are mine alone. It is meant as an aid to parents considering Mandarin Immersion programs and for parents whose children are currently enrolled in those programs.  If you have thoughts, comments or questions, please contact me at weise@well.com.

July 2009

About the phrase “加油!”…  It says ” jia you!” which literally means “Give it the gas!” but which is used in Mandarin to mean “Go for it!” or “Way to go!” As your child embarks on a life-long relationship with Chinese and English, let us be the first to say to you and your family:  加油!

Why Mandarin?

Q: Why have your child learn Mandarin Chinese?

A: Mandarin is the first language of 867 million people and the second language of another 178 million, for a total of about 1 billion speakers worldwide. It is the national language of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It is considered an important “world language” by the United States State Dept. and Dept. of Defense, both of which fund Chinese language programs at primary, secondary and graduate schools around the United States with the aim of increasing the number of fully bilingual, biliterate and bicultural Americans. In addition, China is a country of growing global importance, with rapidly increasing trade, manufacturing and cultural links to the rest of the world.

The benefits of Mandarin immersion can include:
- making children world citizens
- giving them a broad perspective
- strengthening brain development
- access to more career opportunities
- connecting with family history

Q: Why start so young?
A: The earlier a child is introduced to a language, the greater the likelihood they will become truly proficient in it. Children’s brains are naturally programmed to learn any language they are sufficiently exposed to perfectly and without accent. This ability declines with age, disappearing by high school.

Q: Won’t learning two languages confuse my child?
A: While immersion is not the right program for every child, studies have shown that immersion learners benefit cognitively, showing great non-verbal problem solving abilities and more flexible thinking. Children in immersion programs tend to score higher than other children as they progress through the school system.

Worldwide, monolingualism is actually fairly rare. Most children grow up speaking or being exposed to several languages, and in many countries they are attend school in a language they don’t speak at home.

Although immersion education may seem cutting edge and new, it’s actually very old. In Western countries, immersion education (in Latin) was the norm until the 16th and 17th centuries, when teaching in local languages became common.

Countries which have wide-spread immersion programs include India (English), Belgium (Flemish and French) Singapore (Mandarin), most African countries (English and French), Canada (French) and much of China (Mandarin.) In Ireland, Gaelic immersion is popular, in Wales, Welsh immersion schools are growing rapidly.

For an interesting discussion of one of the best studied immersion programs in the world, see…

www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/immersion2000.html

which details Canada’s 30-some year history with French immersion for English-speaking children.

Is Mandarin Hard?

Q: Is Mandarin immersion comparable to Spanish immersion?
A: Well, yes and no. In both students learn a new language, but there’s no getting around that learning to write Chinese is a bigger task than learning to write Spanish, which is after all one of the world’s most rationally-spelled languages. You and your family are making a commitment to a long-term project when you enroll in Mandarin immersion. It won’t engulf your life, but it will definitely take some thought and patience.

Q: Isn’t Mandarin hard to learn?
A: For a child, it’s no harder to learn to speak Mandarin than to learn to speak any other language. Our brains are built to learn languages at that age and we’re good at it. One billion Chinese, about one out of every six people on the planet, manage to do it, and your child can too.

But it is harder to learn to write Chinese. Research and years of experience by the State Department training diplomats indicates that it takes two to three times longer to master the Mandarin language, written and spoken, compared to languages with phonetic alphabets. As indicated above, students aren’t expected to be at a firth grade level in Mandarin by the end of fifth grade. Rather, your child should be reading and writing comparable to late third grade or early fourth grade. (Please note, this applies to Mandarin only. Your child will be reading and writing English at a fifth grade level!)

By the end of fifth grade, students will have learned to read and write about 500 characters, but will be able to read and recognize a total of between 800 to 1,200 depending on the student’s level. Between 1,500 to 2,000 are considered necessary to read a newspaper. To be a fully literate adult, around 5,000 are considered necessary, and for higher level studies it can go as high as 6,000.

Q: Can my child truly become fluent in a language we don’t speak at home?
A: Yes. Children the world over do it routinely. It generally takes three to five years to develop written and oral proficiency in the new language. Typically children soak up the language in the first two years. You’ll notice that they will understand more than they speak. By the second grade, teachers will encourage students to speak more in the target language until it becomes more natural.

Q: My child claims she understand what the teacher is saying, but she can’t explain it to me. Does she really know what’s going on?
A: Yes. Remember, receptive and active language (understanding versus being able to translate) are two very different skills. Think of your child when she was a year-and-a-half-old. You could tell her to go to her room and get a red stuffed animal and bring it back to you, and she could do everything you asked, but she couldn’t say more than a few words. The beginning of immersion is like that. They understand what they’re being told to do (watch it in action in the classroom) but they can’t translate it into English.

What about English?

Q: From whom do students learn English?
A: At Starr King, students learn Mandarin from their home room teacher and go to the other Mandarin program teacher for English period, so their home room teacher never speaks to them in English. At Jose Ortega the Mandarin Immersion teachers trade classes in a similar fashion.

Q: My child does not speak English, how will immersion affect how my child learns it?

A: All students in Mandarin immersion get one period of English language arts per day. In addition, English Learners get  English Language Development instruction specifically designed for English Learners. Your child’s teachers will be carefully monitoring how well they are learning English.

Many parents are fearful that immersion may delay their child’s learning to speak, read and write in English. However research shows that the immersion experience actually advances English language development. The amount of instruction in English increase every year until half of the day is spent in English. After three to four years, immersion students typically do as well as or better than their peers in general education. It is important  that parents understand that the initial lag is temporary and to be expected.

Q: We speak English at home, but will my child learn to read and write it?
A: Yes, but somewhat more slowly than his or her peers at a non-immersion program. Reading, word knowledge and spelling may lag a year or so behind when students first enter school, but by fifth grade  immersion students catch up and often exceed non-immersion students.

Q: I’m worried that my child will fall behind in English.
A: Any language immersion program, but Mandarin especially, is a journey that needs to last for between 7 and 9 years for students to get all the possible benefit from the program. All the research shows that immersion is a long-term process. Students are somewhat behind in English at the beginning, but by 5th and 6th grade not only catch up but surpass their English-only peers.

Some Citations:
http://njrp.tamu.edu/2004/PDFs/Collier.pdf
http://crede.berkeley.edu/research/llaa/1.1_final.html

Parents should realize that they’re making a long-term commitment to immersion. It’s not something that you start with to check out and then expect that you can hop out in 3rd grade and your child will have 3rd grade competency in both English and Mandarin.

Q: What’s “First Grade Freak-Out?”
A: It’s a malady common to some immersion parents, especially in Chinese immersion. Somewhere about halfway through first grade (though it can hit as early as Kindergarten or as late as second grade), they compare what their child is doing in English with what children they known in general education programs are doing and are filled with dread that their child is “behind.”

They immediately being to worry that their child will never catch up, never master written English, probably never graduate from high school, certainly never graduate from college and end up unemployable and homeless. Of course, none of that is true, but what parent doesn’t worry about their child’s future?

The cure for this extremely common condition is time and information.

Years of experience in Spanish and Cantonese programs in the San Francisco public schools, as well as decades of experience in immersion programs in the U.S. and abroad, has shown that all language immersion programs, but Chinese especially, are a journey that needs to last for between seven and nine years for students to get all the possible benefit from the program in question. Students are somewhat behind in English at the beginning, but by 5th and 6th grade not only catch up but surpass their English-only peers.

So while yes, it’s true that a first grader in Mandarin immersion may not be at the same level in English as their general education peers, by 5th grade they’ll be at or above that level and they’ll read, write and speak Mandarin. So the cure to the ‘first grade freak-out’ is to stay calm and remember that you’ve made a long-term commitment to your child’s future by enrolling him or her into immersion. For particularly difficult cases, we suggest speaking with your child’s teacher and principal. And spend an hour or so in their classrooms so you see exactly how much Chinese they understand (it can be eye-opening) and then spend some time on the playground, where you’ll quickly realize that their command of English is flawless.

Hints from our Teachers

Once you’re in, here are some hints from the Mandarin immersion teachers:

Q: How can families help their children learn Mandarin?
A: First, learn about how Immersion Programs work so that you understand what and how your child is learning and most importantly when they’ll be learning certain things. Attend school orientation workshops and read the notes that come home in your child’s homework. If you have questions or don’t quite know what’s happening in the classroom (your child may not always be able to explain it clearly) ask the teacher — they’re your best resource.

Q: It doesn’t seem like my child is really learning that much, what’s going on in the classroom?
A: One of the things parents in Immersion programs have to remember is that they may not always be aware of what’s going on in the classroom because it’s happening in a language they don’t speak, whether that language is English or Mandarin. That can make a big piece of the curriculum ‘invisible’ to families. Ask your child about what they did during the day (though remember that five-, six- and seven- year-olds often aren’t all the best reporters). Then ask what language they learned it in. And of course the teachers are always happy to discuss what they’re teaching. Some teachers also post the week’s learning objectives in their classrooms.

Q: How can I help my child learn to write characters properly?
A: If you can write Chinese, supervising your child to make sure they write their characters using correct stroke order s very important.
If you don’t write Chinese, attend the beginning-of-the-year workshop where teachers will give a brief overview of how to use a Chinese dictionary and how to write characters. Your child’s homework will show the stroke order (in which order the lines of the character are written) and make sure they follow that. Ask other parents who write Chinese or the teacher or even older students for help!

Q: How else can I help?
A: Make homework a part of daily life. In the Mandarin Immersion program, students get a weekly packet of homework. Most families have learned the hard way that doing a little bit of homework every day makes for many fewer tears and tantrums than doing it all in one night!
Teachers estimate that homework times should be around:
K- 15 min homework daily
1st- 25 min homework daily
2nd-30 min homework daily
But please note that every child is different and that these times can vary.

The most important thing to remember is that a little time spent reinforcing what your child learns in school every day at home is what’s important. Help your child by carving out time for them to focus on homework every day, and be available to help and answer questions.

Some things require sitting down at a table to write. But for the weekly quizzes in English and Chinese you can simply carry flash cards in your pocket and ask a question or two when you’re waiting in line at the supermarket or for the bus. Make learning a part of family life, not just something that ends at 2:40. But also don’t let it overwhelm you or your child.

Q: What do teachers say works best?
A: When parents assist with homework (read the directions).
When parents provide additional support.
When parents show interest about child’s learning (use prepared question sheet to know     what to ask)

Q: What do teachers know doesn’t work?
A: At this age few children have the discipline to actually get their homework done without supervision. Many parents report problems when they just tell children it’s important to do homework but don’t help them by creating a time and a place when they can do it, and making sure they sit down and work.

At this age, parents need to lead this process. Don’t just tell your child he or she is in charge of getting homework done, tell them when they need to sit down to do it and then make sure they do.

Q: What’s the most important thing I can do for my child to help them learn?
A: Read to your child, in English or Chinese, every day. It’s the single best thing you can do to help them learn.

San Francisco Public Schools & Mandarin

Q: What are the Mandarin immersion programs available in the San Francisco Public schools?
A: There are currently two.

Starr King Elementary School

URL: http://www.starrkingschool.org/

1215 Carolina St.,
San Francisco, CA 94107
415-695-5797
in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood.

Starr King contains three academics strands:
1.General (English curriculum)
2.Mandarin Immersion (open to students of any language background.)
3.Special education program
4.Spanish bilingual (for children who speak Spanish at home and are learning English but want to keep their Spanish skills. Note, this program is currently being phased out and the last incoming Kindergarten class was 2008-2009.)
The Mandarin Immersion strand began with two kindergarten classes in September of 2006. Two new kindergarten classes will be added each until there are twelve classes total, from kindergarten to 5th grade.

Jose Ortega Elementary School

URL:  http://joseortegaschool.org/

400 Sergeant Street,
San Francisco, CA 94132
415/469-4726
near San Francisco State University.

The school contains four strands:
1.General (English curriculum)
2.Mandarin Immersion
3.Cantonese Bilingual (for children who speak Cantonese at home and are learning English but want to keep their Cantonese skills)
4.Special Education
The Mandarin Immersion strand began with one kindergarten class in September of 2007. A new kindergarten class will be added each year until there are six total, from kindergarten to 5th grade.

Q: How did Mandarin Immersion begin in the San Francisco Public Schools?
A: Mandarin Immersion in the San Francisco Public Schools got its start in January of 2005 when a small groups of parents and community members petitioned the San Francisco School District to start a Mandarin immersion program. A similar suggestion had been made 1994, but Proposition 227, an anti-bilingual measure, had just been passed so the timing was poor. But in 2005 the District was ready. Parents for Public Schools (www.ppssf.org) began holding Mandarin Immersion meetings for interested parties. By 2006 the District had decided to begin a Mandarin Immersion program in the 2006-2007 school year.

Working with parents and community members, the District began the process of identifying possible sites. These needed to meet several criteria, with having enough empty classrooms to accommodate 12 new classes the major one. A program with two Kindergarten classes required a school that could accommodate 240 additional students. That meant finding a school that was severely under-enrolled. Starr King was chosen as the pilot site because it had the space, had a principal, Christopher Rosenberg, who was committed to the program and was relatively accessible.

The next year, the district decided to open a second Mandarin immersion program. Jose Ortega, lead by JoLynn Washington, was chosen as the second site. Because the school (called JOES by many) already had one Cantonese bilingual program, the decision was made to include only one Mandarin Immersion class per grade, to compliment the Cantonese program. But even so, JOES had to be able to accommodate 120 new students as well.

Q: What other immersion programs are available in San Francisco Public Schools?
A: The District also offers Spanish immersion (at 11 elementary schools) and Korean immersion (at one, Claire Lilienthal Elementary School.)

Q: Are other dialects of Chinese also taught in the San Francisco Public Schools?
A: Yes. Alice Fong Yu Elementary School (K-8) and West Portal Elementary (K-5) both have Cantonese immersion programs, though they begin to introduced Mandarin in the upper grades. Cantonese is a southern Chinese dialect spoken by about 70 million people worldwide. Because many Chinese immigrants to the United States came from the south, it has historically been the most commonly spoken form of Chinese here. However is it being supplanted by Mandarin both in China (where children speak their home language at home but are taught in Mandarin) and in the U.S., where more and more immigrants come here speaking Mandarin.

In addition, the District opened a new Cantonese immersion school at the former DeAvila school building in Sept. 2009. That program plans to begin adding Mandarin in 2nd grade.

More about the San Francisco Programs

Q: Which kind of Chinese characters do children in Mandarin Immersion programs learn?
A: There are two kinds of Chinese characters, Simplified and Traditional. China instituted Simplified characters (简体字jianti zi), mostly derived from commonly-used handwriting shortcuts, beginning in the 1950s. Most characters are the same, but there are some differences. China, Singapore and Malaysia all use simplified characters. Taiwan and almost all immigrant Chinese communities around the world still use traditional characters (繁体字 fanti zi).

Because simplified characters are used in China, the decision was made to teach them in the Mandarin Immersion programs. The vast majority of written materials in Chinese today use simplified characters. However most materials in Chinese communities in the Bay area use traditional, which are also used by Alice Fong Yu and West Portal.

There has been discussion of introducing traditional characters in the upper grades in Mandarin immersion and introducing simplified characters in the upper grades of Cantonese immersion so that students in either program are be exposed to both simplified and traditional.

Q: What are the goals of the Mandarin Immersion programs?
A: Students will be bilingual, biliterate and bicultural in both English and Mandarin Chinese. They will learn to read, write, speak and understand both languages.

Q: How fluent will they become?
A: Given the complexity of learning Mandarin, and the fact that students do not live in a predominantly Chinese-speaking world, they will become fluent speakers of Mandarin but will not be at the exact same level as students of the same age in China. The District’s target, based on over 30 years experience at Alice Fong Yu and West Portal, is that by fifth grade, Mandarin immersion students will have gained language reading and writing proficiency equal to somewhere between a late third grade to mid fourth grade.

Q: Do students in Mandarin immersion not learn the same things children in general education programs learn?
A: Actually, they do, they just learn them in Mandarin. Every teacher in the San Francisco Public Schools has California State academic teaching credentials. Mandarin teachers also have a Bilingual Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (BCLAD) certificates.

The teachers in the Mandarin immersion programs have in many cases painstakingly translated English-language materials into Chinese, so that the students are being taught the same subjects and material as General Education students, but in Mandarin. For example, in second grade students learn about the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of government in social studies and study a unit on geology in science. All in Mandarin.

Q: But my child doesn’t speak Mandarin. How can he or she learn in Mandarin?
A: Your child’s home room teacher will speak only Mandarin to your child from the day he or she arrives in Kindergarten. Their English teacher, who they will have for one class a day, will speak English to them. While it’s confusing for the kids at first, but they quickly get the hang of it. All the teachers are warm, loving and patient. They use songs, body language, exaggerated facial expressions, hand-on activities, intonation and drawing to help children understand what they’re saying. Instruction is carefully designed so students can understand what is being taught.

Q: How are the Mandarin Immersion programs structured?
A: The District’s current schedule is given on the final page of this document. The goal is to get students to a strong command of Mandarin by the end of 3rd grade, then introduce more subjects taught in English. This is based on the work of Dr. Stephen Krashen, an influential bilingual researcher and educator, whose research helps form the underpinning of most bilingual and immersion programs. One of Krashen’s principals is that it’s important to solidify a students grasp of the target language (in this case Mandarin) before pushing on to more work in English. For more information about Krashen’s research, see…

www.languageimpact.com/articles/rw/krashenbk.htm

However please understand that the curriculum is a work-in-progress and as the years progress the teachers, curriculum specialists, parents and principals may make small changes to better serve the students.

Q: What about homework?
A: The teachers know that most parents don’t read and write Mandarin. Homework generally comes in a weekly packet with a cover page of instructions in English for parents. Teachers also go over what’s expected with students.

At the beginning of the year the Mandarin Immersion Parents Council (the parent organization that supports Mandarin schools, teachers, parents and students) holds a “Chinese 101” workshops for parents to help them understand what their children are learning.

Also at the beginning of the year, incoming parents have been given the opportunity to attend a workshop where they receive a Chinese-English dictionary and taught how to use it (funding permitting this will continue.)

Each school also has an active Mandarin Immersion parents e-mail list, so you can ask questions about specific homework assignments.

At both Starr King and Jose Ortega, there are Mandarin-speaking staff in the afterschool program available to help with homework. At Jose Ortega, parents have formed Club Gongke (Homework Club) after school so students can get homework support.

Please remember that while the schools try to have consistent policies, every teacher has their own ways of assigning and passing out homework. Your child may get a weekly packet or daily homework or some combination thereof, depending on their teacher and the material being covered. Summer homework is also sent home to keep up skills during the three month break.

Most importantly, experienced Mandarin immersion parents will tell you that the real hurdle isn’t being able to help your child with their Chinese homework, it’s getting them to sit down and do any homework at all!

Q: The Mandarin Immersion programs are new. Where does their curriculum come from?

A: The District and the teachers are working together to create a unified curriculum that seamlessly moves from Kindergarten to fifth grade and beyond. They have received excellent help from already-existing Chinese programs such as the Cantonese bilingual program at West Portal Elementary School.

The District, the teachers and the World Languages Program have created a Chinese curriculum committee which selects curriculum and creates standards and benchmarks for the Mandarin Program.

The Mandarin program uses a mixture of two textbook series, teacher-created worksheets and other materials. The series are:
My First Chinese Readers (from Better Chinese)
This is used for social language and grammar.
Shung Shung (Bridging East-West through culture and language)
This is used for grammar and academic language and contains many well-known Chinese rhymes, tongue twisters, fables and poetry.

In addition, teachers use a variety of worksheet that they themselves create, or worksheets used in the West Portal Cantonese immersion program which they translate into Mandarin and simplified characters. The curriculum used in Mandarin immersion is theme-based, so students are working with the same sets of vocabulary and can build upon it across both their text books and their worksheets.

Q: How do Mandarin Immersion students do on the California state-wide education tests, the Standardized Testing and Reporting tests, the STAR tests?
A: The Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program tests California students on English-language arts, math, science, and social science. The test is given in English. We don’t yet know how Mandarin immersion students did as the first class of Mandarin immersion students were tested in the spring of 2009 and their results will not be available until the fall of 2009. However they are expected to do just fine.

Q: I hear it’s hard to get Mandarin teachers, how can we be assured we’ll have enough teachers to fill all the slots?
A: It’s true that credentialed Mandarin teachers are in short supply nationwide. But thankfully, there are many Mandarin-speaking teachers already working within the San Francisco Public Schools, as well as numerous teachers within California who are trained and certified to teach in our state. One advantage our programs have is that it’s easier to hire a Mandarin-speaking teacher to live in San Francisco where he or she will have a community of other Mandarin-speakers as well as a strong and committed group of Mandarin teachers at both schools than in parts of the country where there is no support system, personal or professional. Our programs are known nationwide and we get resumes from as far away as Beijing. A challenge both schools face is that many excellent applicants are not properly credentialed or don’t have visas to work in the United States.

We have an active hiring committee made up of our principals, teachers, parents and district officials who work hard to find excellent teachers to teach in our growing programs.

Q: Will there be exchanges or class trips to China?
A:  A Cultural Exchange parent committee has already begun work on creating Sister Schools in China and Taiwan. One topic of discussion is a possible exchange and trip to China when we have fifth graders. Already every summer several families go to China and Taiwan, and they’re beginning to coordinate their trips.

Q: How much time will my child spend learning in Mandarin versus English later on?

A: The District’s current schedule is given below. However please understand that the curriculum is a work-in-progress and as the years progress the teachers, curriculum specialists, parents and principals may make small changes to better serve the students.

Kindergarten
Language Arts (English) – 1 hour
Math (Chinese) – 1 hour
Chinese, Social Studies, Science, Art (Chinese) – 2 hours 30 minutes
Physical Education (Chinese) – 15 minutes

First Grade
Language Arts (English) – 1 hour
Math (Chinese) – 1 hour
Chinese, Social Studies, Science, Art (Chinese) – 2 hours 30 minutes
Physical Education (Chinese) – 15 minutes

Second Grade
Language Arts (English) – 1 hour 30 minutes
Math (Chinese) – 1 hour
Chinese, Social Studies, Science, Art (Chinese) – 2 hours
Physical Education (Chinese) – 15 minutes

Third Grade
Language Arts (English) – 1 hour 30 minutes
Math (Chinese) – 1 hour
Chinese, Social Studies, Science, Art (Chinese) – 2 hours
Physical Education (Chinese) – 15 minutes

Fourth Grade
Language Arts (English) – 1 hour 45 minutes
Science (English) – 45 minutes
Math (Chinese) – 1 hour
Chinese, Social Studies, Art, PE (Chinese) – 1 hour 30 minutes

Fifth Grade
Language Arts (English) – 1 hour 45 minutes
Science (English) – 45 minutes
Math (Chinese) – 1 hour
Chinese, Social Studies, Art, PE (Chinese) – 1 hour 30 minutes

Q: What other resources are there for me and my family?
A: Both schools have active parent groups. Once you’re enrolled, you can join your school’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTA), as well as sign up for each school’s electronic mailing list. In addition, each classroom has it’s own list serv.

For Mandarin immersion in general,  The Mandarin Immersion Parents Council (MIPC) is a group of parents that works to support our children, teachers, schools and the district in building Mandarin immersion. MIPC has an active electronic mailing list.

The group’s web site is at:http://miparentscouncil.org/

You can subscribe to the mailing list at:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFPSMandarin/

The Schools

Q: Do the schools have active PTA’s?
A: Yes. Both are vibrant and actively doing work for their school communities. As enrollment increases each year, they will become even more active.

Q: What kinds of all-school activities do the schools have?
A: At Starr king, the school year includes the following events:
- Beginning of school BBQ
- Back to School Night
- Family literacy, Books for Dinner night
- Chinese New Year parade
- School Car Wash fundraiser
- Science Fair
- International Potluck

At Jose Ortega, the school year includes the following events:
- Beginning of school picnic
- Back-to-School Night
- Winter Program
- Chinese New Year parade
- Umoja (“Unity”) Celebration
- Family Nights:  Reading, Math, and Science themes
- Oceans Week
- School Greening Days

Q: How can I get my child ready for Kindergarten?
A: Mandarin Immersion parents begin organizing play dates for incoming Kindergarteners as soon as the District admission letters go out. They continue throughout the summer, so incoming students have a chance to get to know their classmates-to-be, which makes the transition to Kindergarten easier.

Q: What can I expect when school starts?
A: When Kindergarten first begins, your child may be confused or frustrated. He or she may be tired at the end of the day (though that’s not really an immersion thing, it’s common to most Kindergarteners.)

Still, learning a new language is a challenge. Reassure your child and express confidence in his or her abilities. This transition phase is common among first-time immersion learners and generally lasts from two weeks to two months. Children are generally very resilient and will soon feel comfortable in the new language.

Q: What about Gifted and Talented Education programs at Starr King and Jose Ortega?
A: GATE programs don’t begin until third grade, based on results of the STAR tests. There are GATE programs in place at both Starr King and Jose Ortega. Children in the Mandarin Immersion strands who qualify will begin in third grade. Parents are encouraged to discuss possible GATE inclusion with their children’s teachers towards the end of 2nd grade.

However teachers at both Starr King and Jose Ortega work to differentiate their curriculums to insure that all learners needs are met and beginning in Kindergarten.

Q: Realistically, how hard is it to get in to either Starr King or Jose Ortega’s Mandarin Immersion programs?
A: Well, not as hard as Clarendon or Rooftop, but not as easy as some others.

The MI programs are both set up as two-way immersion. That means that half the seats are saved for Mandarin-speaking kids and half for English-speaking kids. The English-speaking kids can come from a household where any language is spoken, but must also be fluent in English.

The goal is to have children from both language groups, so that they can teach each other. The ideal is peer matching, where it’s half and half.

On the lottery front, what that means is that there are 20 seats for incoming non-Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners at Starr King and 10 at Jose Ortega every year. The other 20 and ten seats are reserved for Mandarin-speaking children.

However, thus far, far fewer Mandarin-speaking families have applied, though the number increases every year. So the English-speaking seats are filled up in Round One of the lottery, and then the remaining seats (generally it’s been about 2/3rds) open up for English-speaking kids in the second round.

Both programs filled for the 2009-20010 school year. But the waiting lists are short. Many families got in on the second round and a few during open enrollment.

So remember that 60 Mandarin immersion kindergarten seats open up every fall, so there’s a good chance your child will get in, but it could be in the second round. If you really want Mandarin, list your school and program of choice as your first choice.

Q: What about coming in first grade?
A: If there are spaces available (generally there are one or two each year at each school) children may enter Mandarin immersion programs without any prior Mandarin experience in first grade. From second grade on they must take a test to show that their Mandarin is sufficient for them to keep up. That could include children educated in China or who have attended other Chinese schools in the United States. Each year several students join Starr King and Jose Ortega’s classes.

While any child is welcome to enter the program at first grade, it is something of a steep learning curve. Past experience has shown that it’s helpful if they’ve had some exposure to Mandarin before hand, although of course children have done just fine with none. There are several summer Mandarin programs available that can at least help your child become somewhat comfortable with a Mandarin environment if you’re planning on applying for first grade. Contact the Mandarin Immersion Parents Council at http://miparentscouncil.org/ to get information on current summer programs.

Q: Will the district open a third Mandarin immersion school?
A: The District has said it hopes to have a Mandarin immersion school (as well as Spanish immersion) in each quadrant of the City. But when those programs will open is unknown.

Q: Will my child interact with children in the other strands at the schools?
A: Yes. Both Starr King and Jose Ortega are strong communities made up of children and parents from all the strands in their schools. While certain things are specific to Mandarin Immersion, we are all a part of the greater school community. Your child will be in classes with students from the entire school, not just from the Mandarin strand.

For example, at Starr King from Kindergarten on, students in all strands participate in library and physical education together. Beginning in third grade the Mandarin Immersion students, General Education and Spanish bilingual students will all have English together, broken up into classes of less than 20 students each.

Q: How big are the schools? What’s the breakdown of students?
A: At Starr King for 2009/2010 the projected numbers are roughly:
110      English/general
40     Spanish Bilingual
160    Mandarin Immersion
30    Special Education
===
340

At Jose Ortega for 2009/2010, the projected numbers are roughly:
214    English/general
29    Cantonese Bilingual
57     Mandarin Immersion
20    Special Education
===
320

Each year Starr King will add two Kindergarten classes, and in the fall of 2011 will have its full complement of 12 Mandarin immersion classes, K through 5, with approximately 240 students.

Each year Jose Ortega will add one Kindergarten class, and in the fall of 2012 will have its full complement of six Mandarin immersion classes, K through 5, with approximately 120 students.

Q: What’s the ethnic makeup of the Mandarin Immersion programs?
A: They are very ethnically and linguistically diverse, with children of every race, family make-up and socio-economic background, coming from all parts of the city. It’s difficult to specify because the makeup of the incoming kindergarten class can vary from year to year.

Q: What’s the schedule?
A: At Starr King you can drop children off as early as 8:00. School begins at 8:40. School ends at 2:40.
At Jose Ortega, you can drop children off as early as 7:30. School begins at 7:50. School ends at 1:50.

Q: What about after school and before school care?
A: Starr King currently has two aftercare possibilities:
1.YMCA school-based aftercare: This program is staffed by the YMCA. It can accommodate about over 160 children and fills up every year. It is open to families who need five-day-a-week care only and children cannot leave before 4:30.
2.Potrero Playground: This program is a San Francisco Recreation and Parks Dept. after school program at a playground several blocks from school. It runs Monday through Friday and takes care of 30 kids. It’s only open to first graders and above. A school bus runs from Starr King to Jackson Playground after school. It is flexible in the days children can attend.

At Jose Ortega, there is a fee-based aftercare program for kindergarteners staffed by the Stonestown Family YMCA.  It can accommodate up to 20 children, and will be available in two-, three-, and five-day options. Financial aid will be available.
There is also a free aftercare program for grades 1-5 called JOES ExCEL.  It is also offered by the Stonestown Family YMCA with collaboration from the School Health Programs Department.  Students are expected to attend every day, ready to learn and prepared to work on assignments.
Q: Okay, these programs sound great for elementary school, but what about Middle School?
A: There is currently no Mandarin Immersion middle school program because prior to 2006 there were no Mandarin Immersion students in the San Francisco Public Schools. However the parents of current Mandarin Immersion students, and the District, are very aware that a middle school program is necessary, beginning in 2013 when the first Mandarin Immersion students enter middle school. A parent committee to work with the District on creating such a program was formed in 2009. As with other immersion programs, the district seeks to extend language opportunities for students through the middle and high school levels.