Some more on those impenetrable immersion schools in New York City

My pleas for information about Mandarin immersion schools in New York have been answered by some helpful parents — thanks all.

It’s helpful because finding information about Mandarin immersion schools in New York City isn’t easy. School web sites don’t offer up much and even schools where I’ve talked to parents and know there’s a program don’t mention that they have an immersion on their website. How do people find them? is my question.

That said, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) is the largest school district in the United States, serving 1.1 million students in over 1,800 schools, so I suppose it’s got bigger fish to fry.

The district has dozens of Dual Language programs in multiple languages, including Spanish, Mandarin Vietnamese, Russian and Urdu, among others. These programs  are composed of half native speakers of the target language and half English speakers, and are immersion.

There are also Transitional  Bilingual Education, which transition speakers of another language to English, as well as English as a New Language. Neither of these are immersion

New as of 2017:

PS/IS 102Q Bayview in Elmhurst, Queens, NYC, which began its  inaugural Kindergarten class in September of 2017.

May have begun 2018-2019 (I say “may” have begun because although although the new Superintendent announced these earlier this year, there’s nothing on any of the website that indicate that they actually teach Chinese, much less teach in Chinese. If you have any information about them, please contact me so I can update the listings.)

Here’s a recent article. And one from January.

Manhattan:

• The Riverside School for Makers & Artists—Chinese DL

Brooklyn:

• P.S. 896—Spanish and Chinese DL
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School—Chinese DL [Not sure if this is a continuation of other programs — more info would be helpful.]

Queens:

• P.S. 7 Louis F. Simeone—Chinese and Bengali DL
• P.S. 13 Clement C. Moore—Chinese DL