Once again, it makes me so envious of Utah and its fabulous, and fabulously articulated, immersion program. Here in San Francisco, they’re busy dismantling the immersion program, which no longer exists in high school and won’t exist much longer in middle school. While in Utah they are strengthening and building their program out.

The District offers immersion in Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish and French. (The diagram above doesn’t include French because they have so many programs and so many schools they didn’t all fit on the same page….) And from 10th through 12th grade students do university-level coursework.

Kudos!

Alpine School District’s first set of Chinese immersion students enter high school

Alpine School District’s first set of Chinese dual language immersion students aren’t so little anymore.

The group, who started at Cascade Elementary School in Orem, are now at Orem High School, earning college credit for their work and forming international bonds.

The students’ first year at the high school has involved setting up the process for a sister school in China, along with a trip to the Suzhou Foreign Language School in Suzhou, China, for the 1st International Youth Summit.

“I think it was such a great success,” said Alan Heath, a Chinese teacher at Orem High School.

The trip was the first time a group from the school has gone to China, according to Heath. The school will attempt to do another trip next year.

Heath has taught world languages at the school for four years. This year he’s teaching Advanced Placement Chinese, which gives students an opportunity to earn college credit if they pass a national test at the end of the year, and the bridge class, where students who have passed the AP exam can gain college credits while still in high school. The dual-language students should have received enough college credit by the time they graduate high school to have earned a minor in Chinese.

Please read more here.