Note that the Mandarin program isn’t closing, but the school where it’s been housed since it first opened in 1996, is being demolished and will be rebuilt. The current Potomac Elementary School building opened in 1927. In July the school’s programs will move to Radnor Holding Facility in Bethesda for the duration of construction on the…

A side note: This blog depends to a great extent on the reporting done by local newspapers across the nation, which tell the stories of their communities, schools and issues better than any other source. That’s one reason I always link to the stories rather than posting whole – it’s not only the right thing…

Hot off the presses! I was honored to get to work with Maquita Alexander, Executive Director of Washington YuYing Public Charter School in Washington D.C. on this Brief.   Asia Society Center for Global Education, China Learnings Initiative Chinese Early Language & Immersion Network July 2018   Mandarin immersion programs are growing in popularity, with…

I know this idea is anathema to some parents,who want to know their kids are working hard at Chinese. But really, there is a ton of research showing that the absolute best way to get literate it to read, a lot. It’s called Extensive Reading and it’s not just in Chinese. There’s a whole Foundation that works…

One of the things I love about having kids in Mandarin immersion is that for us non-Chinese parents, our lives are deeply enriched by being welcomed into a world that we otherwise never would have been a part of, broadening our gaze in wonderful ways. My daughters did poetry recitation contests all through school, certainly…

I realize my only knowledge of Prince Edward Island comes from reading all the Anne of Green Gables books as a child (not a bad way to know a place, really.) I had no idea that it has had a huge influx of Buddhist monks and nuns. Now they’re opening an immersion school. That will…

For those of us not lucky enough to speak a language other than English, we must turn to immersion programs to have our children grow up bilingual. When I hear my daughters chattering away in Mandarin, I feel a wave of relief that all those nights arguing and crying at the dining room table over…