Oakley Elementary School does not just teach students Mandarin, it teaches them in Mandarin. A hundred students spend half the day learning math and science in Mandarin and the other half learning reading, writing and social studies in English.

Mandarin classes, taught by Yipeng Wang, are the best part of the day for Kailey Gillespie, 6.

“My favorite thing is counting,” said Gillespie, who can count in Mandarin into the hundreds.

Wang uses various technologies in his classroom, including iPads, a smart board and even augmented reality software (think Pokemon Go) to help his students. Technology enables students to create word associations without using English. For example in one classroom activity, students pointed an iPad camera at the Mandarin word for “square,” and a square appeared on screen, creating the link in their minds between the Mandarin word and the shape without an English word acting as a middleman.

“When you give (students) technology, it makes learning more fun,” Wang said. “A lot of students are thinking they’re playing a game, which is what we want them to believe.”

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