There are many excellent Mandarin Immersion programs throughout the United States. Here are the ones we know about right now. If we are missing your school, please contact us. If you are looking for schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, click here. Canadian schools are at the end of the list.

Arizona

Arizona Language Preparatory

Website: www.AZlanguagePrep.com

We offer a tri-immersion program for kindergarten to first grade and we will be adding second grade for the 2012-13 school year. Our immersion program is 40% Mandarin, 40% Spanish and 20% English.

International School of Tucson

Website: www.internationalschooloftucson.com

K -8 Private school, Tucson, Arizona.

The International School of Tucson (IST), located in the University area of Tucson, offers an internationally-based and internationally-grounded bilingual programme of instruction in Chinese / English, French / English, German / English and Spanish / English

Gavilan Peak K-8 school

Website: https://gavilanpeak.dvusd.org/

Public Kindergarten through eighth grade school.

Immersion Program began 2010-2011 with two 1st Grade classes. 50% English, 50% Chinese instruction.  You can find more info about their Mandarin program here. Local TV story on it here.

California: Outside the Bay Area

Capistrano Unified School District, South Orange Co.

Website: Mandarin Immersion Program

The school district is interested in starting a Dual Language Mandarin Chinese Immersion Program and would like to start it for the kindergarten class of 2012-2013. The District is currently recruiting students, who may come from outside the District.
South Orange County, Calif. For more information,  contact cicusd@hotmail.com.

For future updates:
Online Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OC_Mandarin_Immersion/

Barnard Chinese Magnet School, San Diego

Website: http://barnardelementary.com/

Barnard Elementary School is located in the Point Loma area of San Diego. Barnard is a small neighborhood school which has served the community for over 62 years. It is located near the ocean and Sea World. Our students come to us from across the United States and countries around the world, as well as families who have lived in the neighborhood for generations. This gives our students a rich cultural diversity.

Broadway Elementary School, Los Angeles

Website: http://www.broadwayelementary.org/

Broadway’s Mandarin Immersion Program implements the 50/50 model. The instruction is 50% in English and 50% in Mandarin. Each classroom consists of students who are fluent in either Mandarin or English and they serve as each other’s language models.

Field Elementary School, Pasadena, CA

Website: http://field.pasadenausd.org/

Pasadena Unified School District’s Dual Language Mandarin Immersion Program is now in year three. We have one class each for third, second and first grades, and two kindergarten classes.

City Terrace Elementary School, Los Angeles

Website: cityterrace.lausd.net

A Mandarin dual-immersion program.

Norton Space and Aeronautics Academy, San Bernadino

Website: www.lewiscenter.org/nsaa/

Norton Space and Aeronautics Academy (NSAA) is a California Public Charter School, authorized by the San Bernardino County Office of Education. NSAA was established in August 2008 and opened with grades K-2. Each year the school will expand an additional grade with the goal of becoming a K-12 school by the year 2018. Currently, in the 2011-12 school year, our program offers kindergarten – 5th grade. As a growing school, each year we add a new group of kindergarten students, and our current students advance in grade levels.  An article in the UCLA newspaper says they’re beginning Mandarin immersion as well.

Redding School of the Arts

Grades K through 8, Public School, Redding, CA
Website: www.rsarts.org/academics/mandarin.htm

A public charter school grades K – 8 focusing on the visual and performing arts. The Mandarin program is a 50/50 immersion model and started in the 2007 school year with a kindergarten class of 34 students (divided into two sections of 17 children). The incoming kindergarten class also has 34 students and the school intends to grow the program a grade each year.
530-247-6933

Colorado

Denver International School

Website: dmischool.org

Denver Language School

Website: www.denverlanguageschool.org

Grades K through 8, public charter school, Denver, CO

The Denver Language School is a Mandarin Chinese/Spanish K-8 charter school that was approved by Denver Public Schools in June, 2009. Denver Language School will open on August 2, 2010 with 225 students in grades K-2: Spanish—3 kindergarten, 1 first grade and 1 second grade class; Mandarin—2 kindergarten, 1 first grade and 1 second grade class.

Colorado International School, Denver

3yrs – 8th grade, private, Denver, CO

Website: coloradointernationalschool.org

Global Village Academy, Aurora

Website: globalvillageacademy.org

Grades K-8, public charter, Aurora, CO

Florida

Global Outreach Charter Academy

Website: Global Outreach Charter Academy

Global Outreach Charter School, a K-8 school, Duval, Florida. Mandarin K beginning 2010-2011.

The school also offers Russian.

Palm Bay Academy

Grades K through 12, Charter School, Palm Bay, Florida

Pilot program consists of two language immersion programs – Chinese and Spanish. We are starting with kindergarten this first year – one for each program – and will expand by one grade each year as these kindergarteners go up through the program. Our program is based on a 50/50 immersion (half day in English and half day in the target language – Chinese or Spanish).

Panama City Renaissance School

Grades K through 3 with plans to extend to high school, Private School, Panama City, Florida

Website: pcrschool.org

Offers accelerated academics and fluency in three languages (Mandarin, Spanish and English). Four hours of instruction are in Mandarin (including science, math, history and geography), one hour of English, and one hour of Spanish. All languages are taught by immersion. Due to the accelerated nature of the academics and the language instruction, the school will only add one additional grade level each year (complete elementary program 2010, complete elementary and middle school program 2013, complete elementary, middle school and high school program by 2017).

Georgia

World Language Academy

Grades K – 5, Flowery Branch, Ga. 30542

Website: WLA

This is a Spanish/English immersion school that offers Mandarin Chinese beginning in 2nd grade as a foreign language. It appears to be the only elementary school in the state that offers Mandarin in any form, so we include it here although it’s not actually Mandarin immersion.

Idaho

Gateway School of Language and Culture, Boise

Website: here

In the fall of 2011, Gateway’s 50/50 immersion experience in Mandarin Chinese has expanded to Grades K, 1 and 2.  This program is exclusively for families wanting 50% of their child’s day in English and 50% of their child’s day in Mandarin Chinese.  The Kindergarten program is a full day experience, and is contingent upon families participating in the Tuition-based program offered by the district, which has a cost of $250.00 per month.

Illinois

Barbara B. Rose Elementary School

Website: here

K and 1st beginning 2011-2012 school year. South Barrington, Illinois.

See article about the new program here.

Cherokee Elementary School

Website: http://www.lf67.org/schools/cherokee/ch_index.html

Public. The District 67 Mandarin immersion program will offer one Mandarin immersion kindergarten class and one first grade class beginning fall of 2011.The program will offer half-day instruction in English and half-day instruction in Mandarin through fourth grade. Lake Forest, Illinois.  District website here.

Indiana

The International School of Indiana

Website: International School of Indiana

Pre-K through 12th grade. Private school, Indianapolis, Indiana.

The private school started a Chinese immersion program for kindergarten students in 2009 and had plans to eventually expand it throughout the school. It already offers immersion in Spanish and French.

Louisiana

Alice Boucher World Languages Academy

Website here.

Grades K through 5, Public School, Lafayette, Louisiana

The school offers French and Spanish immersion classes. Mandarin was begun in the fall of 2009 with an inaugural class of 14 students.

Maryland

Potomac Elementary School

Website: Potomac Elementary School

Grades K through 5, Public School, Rockville , MD

Mandarin immersion in K-5 in Science and Math

College Gardens Elementary School

Website: College Gardens Elementary

Grades K through 3, Public School, Rockville, Maryland

Michigan

Post Oak Magnet School

Website: Post Oak School

Grades K through 5, Public School, Lansing , Mich.

50/50 Mandarin immersion in K-8. Also a International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program.

Meadow Brook Elementary School

Website: Meadow Brook School.

Grades K through 5, Public School, Grand Rapids , Mich.

50/50 Mandarin immersion in K-5. Also has a Spanish immersion program. Not much on their web site about it, but you can call Larry Matthews, Principal of Meadow Brook at 616-493-8740.

Oakbrook Elementary School

Massachusetts

Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School

Website: pvcics.org

Grades K through 8, charter school, Hadley, MA

Grades K and 1 available in 2007, adding one grade each year until K-8

Minnesota

Yinghua Academy

Website: yinghuaacademy.org

Grades K through 8, Public Charter, St. Paul, MN

See also on this site: School Closeup: Yinghua Academy

Barack and Michelle Obama Service Learning Elementary School

Website: http://obama.spps.org/

Kindergarten opening 2011-2012, St. Paul, Mn.

Excelsior Elementary School

Grades K through 5, public charter, Minnetonka, Minn.

Website: Excelsior Elementary

Xin Xing Academy based at Eisenhower Elementary School

Grades K through 5, public charter, Hopkins, MN

Website: Xin Xing Academy

Lakes International Language Academy

Kindergarten added in 2011-2012, public charter, Forest Lake, Minn.

www.lakesinternational.org or call 651-464-0771.

New Jersey

Ying Hua Day School

Princeton, New Jersey

Website: yhds.org

A Mandarin Chinese immersion school in New Jersey, a nonprofit private school that follows the 90/10 model within the International Baccalaureate curriculum for students 3 years and up. (732) 513-3034.

Princeton International Academy Charter School

Princeton, New Jersey.

Public charter school to open in Sept. 2010. The mission of the Princeton International Academy Charter School is to nurture and enable young people to acquire dual language fluency in Mandarin Chinese and English within the International Baccalaureate curriculum framework.

Website: Princeton International Academy Charter School

Bilingual Buds

Website: http://www.bilingualbuds.com/index.htm

Summit, New Jersey

A private K-3rd (so far) school that offers both Spanish and Mandarin immersion. They also offer a summer camp in Beijing. 587 Springfield Avenue Summit, NJ 07901 • (908) 598-8088

New York

Shuang Wen School

Public, K-8 New York City
Website: shuangwen.org

Founded in 1998, Mandarin instruction takes place during Shuang Wen’s mandatory after-school program, which begins at the close of the regular New York City public school day and runs from 2:50 to 5:30 pm.

Avenues: The World School

Website: www.avenues.org/world-school

Private, for-profit, L -9, New York City

The school is slated to open in fall of 2012 with K – 9 and will be one of the few for-profit schools in the country. It will provide two tracks, one Mandarin immersion (50/50 model) and one Spanish immersion. The school is expected to grow into a series of schools worldwide with the same curriculum, so international students can move between them easily. Tuition in New York is expected to be approximately $38,000 a year. The New York Times wrote about it in July of 2011, the article is here.

North Carolina

Smith Academy of International Languages

Charlotte, NC

Website: pages.cms.k12.nc.us/smith/

Smith Academy of International Languages (SAIL) is a K-8 language immersion magnet located in Charlotte, North Carolina. We offer language immersion in Chinese, German, French, and Japanese for grades K through 8 and in Spanish for grades 6 through 8.

Oregon

Hosford Middle School

Grades 6 through 8, Public School, Portland, Oregon

Website: hosford.pps.k12.or.us

See our article “School Closeup: Mandarin Immersion in Portland, Ore” for more details.

International School

Private immersion school, Portland, OR

Website: International School

The International School (TIS) in Portland, Oregon has been teaching Mandarin full immersion since 1996. Our students are fully immersed in Mandarin language and culture from age 3 through fifth grade, developing fluency in writing, speaking, reading and understanding. In 2006, International School students were the first young children in the world to take and pass the Chinese government proficiency test (HSK for its Chinese initials), likened to the Test of English as a Foreign Language in the United States. Chinese immersion students are also exposed to Japanese and Spanish language and culture through the other immersion programs at the school. The school was founded in 1990 and today educates over 460 students. Approximately 200 students study Mandarin. For more information, visit http://intlschool.org or call 503-226-2496.

Northwest Chinese Academy

Private immersion school, Beaverton, OR

Website: nwchineseacademy.org

The Northwest Chinese Academy offers an exceptional education and a true sense of community. We embrace the highest academic standards while creating a warm and supportive environment for learning. Small classes*, high expectations, individual attention and a nurturing environment are hallmarks of The Northwest Chinese Academy experience.

Woodstock Elementary School

Grades K through 5, Public School, Portland , OR

Website: woodstock.pps.k12.or.us

Oldest public Mandarin immersion program in the US, founded in 1998. 126 students in Mandarin Immersion Program (1/2 of instructional time.)

See our article “School Closeup: Mandarin Immersion in Portland, Ore” for more details.

Hope Chinese Charter School

Grades K-8, public charter, Beaverton, OR.

Hope Chinese Charter School
PO Box 91602
Portland, OR 97291
Email: info@hopeccs.org
Web: www.hopeccs.org
Phone: 971-226-7500

We plan to open our public charter school in fall 2012. We have a website and
hope to have our site finalized soon. Enrollment starts in January.
Hope Chinese Charter School will be in the Beaverton School DIstrict
boundary and eventually grow to a K-8th school. We will be 75%
(Mandarin) Chinese in grades K-2 and gradually become 25% immersion in
the middle school grades.

Texas

Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School, Houston

The Houston School District is currently accepting applications for Pre-K to second grade for the 2012-2013 school year. 
Please visit www.houstonisd.org/magnet for more details and to apply the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School.

Texas
Holden Elementary School, Houston
HISD’s first ever Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School will open in time for the 2012-2013 school year, the Board of Education decided unanimously at its December 2011 monthly meeting. The school will be located at the site of the former Holden Elementary School, 812 W. 28th St., and will initially serve students in the early elementary school grades, with additional grades to be added in subsequent years. The school will serve youngsters from throughout the district, and transportation will be provided.

Utah

State-wide program website: utahchineseimmersion.org/startalk/participating-programs/

Calvin Smith Elementary

Kearns, UT

Website: www.graniteschools.org/el/Smith/

Cascade Elementary

Orem, UT

Website: cascade.alpinedistrict.org/Cascade_Website/Cascade_Home.html

Draper Elementary

Draper, UT

Website: draper.canyonsdistrict.org/

East Lake Elementary

Riverton, UT

Website: schools.jordandistrict.org/eastlake/

Foothills Elementary

Riverton, UT

Website: schools.jordandistrict.org/foothills/

Lone Peak Elementary

Draper, UT

Website: lonepeak.canyonsdistrict.org/

Monte Vista Elementary

Riverton, UT

Website: schools.jordandistrict.org/mvista/

Ridgecrest Elementary

Salt Lake City, UT

Website: ridgecrest.canyonsdistrict.org/

Southland Elementary

Riverton, UT

Website: schools.jordandistrict.org/southland/

Spring Lane Elementary

Salt Lake City, UT

Website: www.graniteschools.org/el/SpringLane/

Stewart Elementary

Centerville, UT

Syracuse Elementary

Syracuse, UT

Website: www.davis.k12.ut.us/syracuse/

Uintah Elementary

Ogden, UT

Website: www.ue.weber.k12.ut.us/joomla/

Wasatch Elementary

Provo, UT

Website: www.wasatch.provo.edu/Site_Home/home.htm

Washington State

Beacon Hill International School

Grades K through 5, Public School, Seattle, WA

Website: http://beaconhillinternationalschool.org/

Beginning in Fall 2008, BHIS has offered three key key programs: Spanish/English Dual Language Immersion, Chinese Mandarin/English Partial Language Immersion and an English Language Immersion, with students in the programs spending half the school day studying and working in a new language taught by native speakers while also simultaneously advancing their academic skills in core curriculum of reading, writing, math and science.

Ben Franklin Elementary School

Public. Vancouver, WA.

Website: Franklin Elementary.

Mandarin immersion program began fall 2009. Kindergarten and 1st grade, adding grades each year. See article here.

Washington DC

Washington Yu Ying

Charter School, Washington, DC

Website: washingtonyuying.org

Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School aims to spark the fire of lifelong learning by providing a world class education for students in our nation’s capital. The first public school in Washington, DC, to offer Chinese language immersion, Yu Ying combines language immersion with the inquiry-based curricula of the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Wisconsin

Verona Area International School

Website: http://www.vaisverona.org/

Charter school, Madison, Wisconsin, 5830 Devoro Road, Madison, WI 53711. 608.845.4293

The Verona Area International School (VAIS) is a Verona charter school offering a Chinese-language immersion environment for elementary students. We are a public school in the Verona Area School District, and we proudly provide a free, world-class education to a culturally, racially, economically and academically diverse group of elementary students.

CANADA

We have no listings for Canadian schools. If you know of on, please contact us and we’ll put it up.

Australia

Varsity College

An elementary through high school public school with a Mandarin immersion strand. Varsity Lakes, Queensland

info: Varsity College Mandarin

Abbotsford Primary School

A K – 6 elementary school in Melbourne’s inner East neighborhood. The school has had a Mandarin program for many years.

Info: Abbotsford Mandarin program