Pomona, Calif. launched Mandarin immersion program

Pomona Unified launches Mandarin-English language immersion class for kindergartners

Kindergarten teacher Jie Gao, right, helps Gabriella Carrillo, of Pomona, with her class work in the new English-Mandarin Dual-Language Immersion program at Pantera Elementary School in Diamond Bar, CA, Thursday, August 27, 2015. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)
By Monica Rodriguez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
POSTED: 09/11/15, 6:57 PM PDT | UPDATED: 1 DAY AGO 0 COMMENTS

Isabella San Martin, of Diamond Bar, works on her class work in the new English-Mandarin Dual-Language Immersion program at Pantera Elementary School in Diamond Bar, CA, Thursday, August 27, 2015. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)
DIAMOND BAR >> Walk into Jie Gao’s classroom at Pantera Elementary School in Diamond Bar and it looks much like any other kindergarten classroom – decorated with pictures of colorful geometric shapes, fruits and animals.

But there’s something different about this class. The writing under the pictures and on the samples of students’ work is in Chinese characters.

Several weeks into kindergarten, the children count, sing and use words in Mandarin among themselves and at home.

For half of the school day Gao only uses Mandarin to speak with her students.

Please read more here.