A new career. A new school. And a very inconvenient new crush.
I’m not sure I could have envisioned, back in 2005 when I first started going to meetings with the San Francisco Unified School District about starting a Mandarin immersion programs here, that twenty years later I’d be reading a romance novel set at a Mandarin immersion grade school.
And that one of its plot points would be the struggle to get a school district to create a middle school follow on so students had a chance to continue Chinese after fifth grade. Admittedly, it’s a minor plot point, but wow, it certainly resonated.
Clearly, The Teacher’s Matchwas written by someone who’s lived this. And indeed, she has. Kristi Hong was born to Taiwanese immigrant parents, grew up in Michigan and is Mandarin immersion parent.
Her novel definitely shows that – this is someone who’s spend time in MI schools and knows the issues they face. There’s even a dragon boat race and a fifth grade trip to Taiwan.
Mind you, it’s a Harlequin romance, so it’s a little fantasy based. The principle is 100% behind the school, there doesn’t seem to be any community pushback and at least some of the fifth graders have beautiful Chinese calligraphy. On the other hand, I kept seeing Jack Sun as Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians as I read it, which was kind of fun.
I’m more a science fiction reader, but this was a lovely book and the first I’ve found that’s set in a Mandarin immersion school. I hope there are more to come – here’s to being mainstream!
And here’s a story about the author, and the book. Please read here.
Dual Language Programs Empower Students with Bilingualism
Seattle Public Schools: January 8, 2025
Seattle Public Schools offers K-12 dual language immersion pathways in Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin
Dual Language Programs Empower Students with Bilingualism
It’s time for math at McDonald International Elementary, and Miwa Casper is breezing through her lesson with ease. The 5th-grade Japanese immersion teacher prompts her students to respond, and they all do – but not in English. In this class, students can only answer in Japanese.
Seattle Public Schools serves more than 6,700 English language learners who come from 159 different countries and speak 158 languages and dialects across the district.
There are districts (and indeed whole states) that do K-12 language immersion well. New York City, Portland, Oregon. Minnesota. Utah (which has immersion is on steroids).
And then there’s Alaska. I’m not sure how I missed just how remarkable their program is. Anchorage is a city of 286,000 and the Anchorage School District serves approximately 43,700 students across 96 schools.
And my goodness do they have immersion. Seven (!) languages, including Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, French, German andYup’ik. Not only that, but unlike far too many districts, they are committed to offering immersion all the way through high school, instead of petering out in middle school.
Which isn’t to say the programs aren’t under threat. There was concern they’d be cut in 2022 due to budget issues and again this year. But so far they seem to be holding on.
Here are all the programs, and their progression through the grades:
Japanese K – 12
Sand Lake Elementary • Mears Middle School • Dimond High School
There’s a new, gaping hole in the Mandarin immersion world and an ad hoc group of educators has come together to try to fill it. Their first effort is a survey of Mandarin immersion schools – and they’re asking parents and staff in those schools to help.
Shuhan Wang has been active in Chinese language education issues for decades. She was executive director of the Asia Society’s Chinese Early language and Immersion Network, which published briefs about immersion education and helped create online directories of programs nationwide.
Jiahang Li is a professor of teacher education and outreach coordinator of the Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University.
Together, they’re launching a survey of Mandarin immersion schools in the United States to document the programs’ needs.
As a starting point they’re using the list of Mandarin immersion schools I keep here at the Mandarin Immersion Parents Council, together with now-outdated data from CELIN.
But their goal is larger, to get a sense of what challenges these programs are facing and what can be done to bolster them.
The aim to fill a newly-emerged hole in the Chinese immersion world. For years, the Asia Society has been a staunch supporter of Mandarin immersion in grade school and high school. It sponsored the Chinese Early language and Immersion Network, published briefs about immersion education and helped create online directories of programs nationwide.
Of course the Asia Society does many things in addition to that and has long been a vital source of information and study about Asian politics, history and culture.
Unfortunately for K – 12 schools, it has now pivoted away from its work on language immersion, ending its work on Mandarin immersion as part of a general move towards “Navigating Shared Futures,” meant to emphasize pathways for Asia and the world to collaborate.
Given that, Wang and Li have launched an ad hoc group called (for now) the Mandarin Consortium. They hope to eventually set up a non-profit that can help fill some of the gap left by the Asia Society but initially want to get a baseline sense of what’s going on in the world of Mandarin immersion in the K – 12 realm.
“We need the numbers to strategize and do advocacy,” said Wang.
It’s aimed at teachers or administrators, as many of the questions center on textbooks, teacher hiring and other issues programs face. However they hope parents can bring it to the attention of staff at their schools, to help get as broad an overview as possible.
The goal is to have programs complete the survey by the end of April. Its about four pages long and shouldn’t require a big investment of time. Teachers are welcome to complete it in either English or Chinese (or both) whichever they feel more comfortable in.
Those with more questions can reach them here:
Shuhan Wang, Ph.D. ELE Consulting International, shuhancw@gmail.com
Jiahang Li, Ph.D., Michigan State University, jiahang@msu.edu
Here’s the announcement in Chinese:
尊敬的教育界同仁：
自1981年加州旧金山的中美国际学校（Chinese American International School,
SOUTH PASADENA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (SPUSD) JANUARY 3, 2025
In the past decade, research has shown that learning a second language at a young age increases cognitive flexibility and translates into higher achievement across subject areas for students. Students who participate in dual language immersion programs demonstrate grade-level academic ability, well-developed language and literacy skills in two languages, and cross-cultural competence. Recognizing these studies and community interest in programs that teach children to read, write and speak a second language, South Pasadena Unified School District (SPUSD) developed a dual language immersion program several years ago aligned to its strategic plan.
For parents interested in learning more about the program, SPUSD created a general overview presentation that is shared on the Dual Language Immersion (DI) Program webpage. After reviewing this presentation, interested parents may tune in to the question and answer webinar scheduled for Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. Parents may access the webinar from the link that will be posted on the Dual Language Immersion Program webpage.
The Lafayette Parish School Board voted on Wednesday to shutter the Chinese immersion program at Cpl.Michael Middlebrook Elementary School, bringing the language program to an end after 14 years. The board voted 4-3 to close the program, which will cease operation at the end of this school year.
Middlebrook Elementary saw a decrease in 114 students this year, likely linked to the closing of the program.
“the decision to discontinue the Chinese Immersion Program at Corporal Michael Middlebrook Elementary School was also met with concern by parents.
Melissa Hardy’s son attends Middlebrook and she says she is now considering other options for her son’s education, “What we really want is the time to communicate with the board and find out what they need. We’re willing to help. We want to help the program grow but we feel like we haven’t gotten the opportunity nor have we gotten the communication to know why we can’t do so.”
Hardy joined several other parents who spoke at Wednesday night’s school board meeting asking the board to reconsider its decision stating the program.
LPSS said in a recent statement, closing the Chinese Immersion Program at Middlebrook will yield $510, 304 in savings. LPSS says.
Cherrywood Elementary School in San Jose, California is recommended for closure in 2025-2026 due to declining enrollment. The school’s Mandarin Dual Immersion Program is a concern for the school district and community.
It’s not entirely clear to me this is happening, not seeing any decisions but the program is accepting applications for the 2025-2026 school year.If anyone has updated information, please message me. It’s possible they will relocate the Mandarin program but I can’t find information about it.
Cash-strapped San Jose school district narrows down closures
Hundreds of North San Jose parents, students and teachers are joining forces to fight school closures in their community.
The Berryessa Union School District board met Tuesday night to discuss the potential closure of three schools due to declining enrollment and decreased federal and state dollars. The schools on the chopping block have not been finalized, but could be a combination of two elementary schools and one middle school, or two elementary schools and another merged with a middle school, or closing three elementary schools. None of the suggestions appeased any of the families whose children will be affected by the final decision being made on Dec. 18.
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council 