Cambridge, Mass. immersion school
August 30, 2012
Interesting that they extend the school day by two hours. I wonder how they managed to pull that off, in most district you would run afoul of union rules.
By MICHELLE LIU
Credit tanlaoshi/youtube
Szu-Ming Li teaches her students in the King Chinese Immersion program.
20 percent. That’s the percentage of people in the United States that are bilingual. According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, the number of people 5 and older who speak a language besides English at home has more than doubled in the last 30 years.
In the United States, as more and more people are learning a new language, it’s become apparent that a trend is also growing in immersion schools and programs across the country. In 2006, there were a little more than 250 immersion schools in the country. In 2011, that number grew to 448.
Massachusetts has 16 immersion programs, and two are in Mandarin Chinese. Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley is the only Chinese immersion school in New England
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Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 
I am a teacher at the King School in Cambridge. Our faculty unanimously voted to expand our school day seven years ago, well before this immersion program was implemented. We made that choice because we felt that critical academic areas, particularly science were shortchanged during a typical school day. Additionally, our eight hour day allows for music and art instruction as well as daily recess and opportunities for intervention and enrichment. The immersion program benefits from an expanded day that was already in place and serving students well.
That sounds like a wonderful school. Having school end at 2:40 never has made sense to me, the parents are all still at work and it’s a mad scramble to find something for our kids to do between then the bell rings and the parents are done. How wonderful to know they’re actually learning, and probably in a less hurried and more relaxed way than shorter-day schools are capable of. Which I’m sure makes it more fun for the kids in the end.