Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, Mass. has faced criticism for several years due to one of the fundamental issues many Mandarin immersion schools face – Mandarin immersion isn’t for everyone. At the same time, public schools must be for everyone. And yet not everyone wants Mandarin immersion, not every parent and, at…

A local mom, Jessica Covington, has put together a great list of resources for parents with children learning Mandarin in the San Francisco Bay area. She’s graciously allowed me to post her information. Definitely check out her blog, which has a lot of fun information about travel and kids. (And guest columns are always welcome…

This is a fascinating look at the other side of the coin – Chinese families working to get their children comfortable in English, just as Mandarin immersion families here work for Chinese.  By RICHIE DAVIS Recorder Staff Friday, August 18, 2017   WENDELL — Even in the mind-bending “expect the unexpected” times we’re living in,…

St. Paul looks to boost unpopular schools to turn enrollment tide By JOSH VERGES | jverges@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press August 5, 2017 at 7:00 am Mired in a cycle of enrollment losses and budget cuts, St. Paul Public Schools leaders are eager to play offense in the arena of school choice. The district’s share of…

LOS ANGELES, July 10 (Xinhua) — The 135-year-old Castelar Elementary School in downtown Los Angeles, California in west U.S., never stops its efforts of academic diversification. With a Mandarin language immersion program in full wing for six years for K-5, the school rides the trend again, as U.S. learners of Chinese language are becoming younger.…

For those of us who don’t actually speak a second language natively, immersion is the closest you can get.  From The New York Times By PERRI KLASS, M.D. True bilingualism is a relatively rare and a beautiful thing, and by “true,” I mean speaking two languages with the proficiency of a native — something most…

It’s not often that you get to see the full scope of a program laid out for all to see, the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s impressive that Pasadena has produced this report that gives a full overview of how things in its Mandarin immersion program are going, what is working well and…