Pomona Unified launches Mandarin-English language immersion class for kindergartners

Kindergarten teacher Jie Gao, right, helps Gabriella Carrillo, of Pomona, with her class work in the new English-Mandarin Dual-Language Immersion program at Pantera Elementary School in Diamond Bar, CA, Thursday, August 27, 2015. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)
By Monica Rodriguez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
POSTED: 09/11/15, 6:57 PM PDT | UPDATED: 1 DAY AGO 0 COMMENTS

Isabella San Martin, of Diamond Bar, works on her class work in the new English-Mandarin Dual-Language Immersion program at Pantera Elementary School in Diamond Bar, CA, Thursday, August 27, 2015. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)
DIAMOND BAR >> Walk into Jie Gao’s classroom at Pantera Elementary School in Diamond Bar and it looks much like any other kindergarten classroom – decorated with pictures of colorful geometric shapes, fruits and animals.

But there’s something different about this class. The writing under the pictures and on the samples of students’ work is in Chinese characters.

Several weeks into kindergarten, the children count, sing and use words in Mandarin among themselves and at home.

For half of the school day Gao only uses Mandarin to speak with her students.

Please read more here.

I’m giving a talk for parents tonight for the Friends of Mandarin Scholars. They’re the parent group for College Park Elementary School, the Mandarin immersion program in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco. Looking forward to it – I spoke at their Gala fundraiser in the spring and it was *quite* the party

I was updating my PowerPoint and have a nice new graph showing the rise of Mandarin immersion programs across the nation since 1981, when the Chinese American International School was founded in San Francisco.

We’re up to 198 programs nationwide. And I know of three more that are supposed to come online next year, though more will undoubtably pop up as the year progresses.

Welcome all to a new school year, and more programs for our kids!

Please excuse an earlier version of this post, in which I said the charter had been rejected. Someone had sent me the older articles saying it had been rejected and as I was searching San Jose and not WeiYu, it didn’t immediately pop up. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, there IS a Mandarin immersion charter opening in San Jose next year!

Here’s the link to the excellent news.

And here are some of the older articles chronciling the difficulties the parents faced and, finally, overcame.

San Jose: Proposed Mandarin immersion school rejected

After founder’s ouster, parents and board meet about St. Louis Language Immersion Schools

June 24, 2015 10:00 pm • By Elisa Crouch0
Parents, students protest ouster of founder from St. Louis Language Immersion Schools

About 25 parents and students held signs expressing support for Rhonda Broussard Read more

Founder dropped as leader of St. Louis Language Immersion Schools

Decision to replace Rhonda Broussard surprises parents, staff. Read more
ST. LOUIS • About 50 parents with children in the St. Louis Language Immersion Schools faced the School Board chairman Wednesday and expressed a range of concerns following the seemingly abrupt ouster of founder and president, Rhonda Broussard, this month.

Some called for her reinstatement. One called for parent representation on the board. Tasha Buchannon expressed anxiety about continuing in the language immersion charter schools — the only program of its kind in the city.

“I feel stuck,” said Buchannon, who was recruited by Broussard to send her daughter to The Chinese School.

The meeting — held as a public forum — was the first time parents have addressed the board since June 13, when they received an email from board chairman David Luckes announcing that Broussard would no longer be president. It was Broussard’s vision in 2006 to bring the language immersion experience to students in St. Louis. The first schools, the French and Spanish, are elementary schools that opened in 2009. The Chinese School opened in 2012. They offer instruction almost entirely in the immersion languages.

Please read more here.

Addition expands Chinese Immersion school in Hadley

By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 19, 2015

HADLEY — As it begins its ninth academic year, the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School will offer a rigorous college preparatory program to its high school students as it opens a new addition that will accommodate more than 400 students under one roof.

The public charter school, where students learn both Chinese language and culture while also completing a curriculum that meets the state’s education standards, was accepted into the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme earlier this year.

Principal Kathleen Wang said in an email that the international program will allow students to graduate with both a Massachusetts high school diploma and the International Baccalaureate diploma, which is recognized around the globe.

The four-story, 38,000-square-foot addition — which more than doubles the size of the school’s Hadley campus — will provide classroom space for children from kindergarten through 11th grade.

Please read more here.

Kindergarten is a huge moment in a child’s life. So imagine if your parents sent you to a school where they teach most of the day in a language you don’t speak, like Spanish or German or Japanese. In California, a growing number of families are choosing schools like this. It’s called dual-language immersion. Reporter Deepa Fernandes followed the Gomez family this past year as their daughter, Gemma, attended a public school that teaches in Mandarin.

Please read (and listen) here.