OREM — It must be one of the most singularly astonishing sights in any classroom in Utah Valley — first-graders being taught entirely in Chinese, even though they didn’t know a single word of the language until four months ago.

Alpine School District’s hugely successful Chinese language immersion program was the first of its kind here two years ago. Today, it is one of the district’s biggest success stories. The pilot group, now in second grade, has learned to speak Chinese so quickly and so fluently that the district is looking to expand the immersion program into other languages and other schools. An announcement could be made before Christmas.