FAQ

Mandarin Chinese Immersion FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. What is immersion education?
Immersion education is an exciting and innovative program in which children develop the ability to speak, read and write in a second language. Immersion is a method of foreign language instruction in which the regular school curriculum is taught in another language. Academic competency in two languages is achieved. Multi-culturalism is an important part of the curriculum, and students learn the values, traditions, and history of other cultures in our diverse community.

2. Why expand Palo Alto's immersion education program to include Chinese?
Knowledge of more than one language and culture is important for our children's full participation in a culturally and linguistically diverse world. Palo Alto Unified School District established the Spanish immersion program in 1995 as a voluntary alternative program available to all children in the school district. Currently a strand school at Escondido Elementary School, the Spanish immersion program has been a successful alternative program in PAUSD, consistently over-subscribed by elementary school families entering kindergarten. With the changing demographics of the Palo Alto community, and the emerging economic strength of China and other Mandarin-speaking countries, a number of Palo Alto parents believe that the opportunity to become fluent in Mandarin should be made available to all children as a new alternative choice program in PAUSD.

3. Where would the Chinese immersion program be located?
The starting kindergarten classes could be a new strand in an elementary school, much like the Spanish immersion program exists as a strand school in Escondido Elementary School. Placement at a lower enrollment campus could ease overcrowding at other sites. Maintaining sensitivity to the new school neighborhood, the school board will ultimately decide the location of a new alternative program. All alternative programs (Hoover's direct instruction, Ohlone's network, and Escondido's Spanish immersion programs) have moved in their history. Flexibility in school location for initial classes will be required. As Palo Alto looks to future changing demographics and planned high-density housing, the school district's leased sites (Garland, Cubberly, Ventura, and Fremont Hills) may need to be evaluated.

4. How much would a Chinese immersion program cost?
Operating costs for any new immersion program are on par with regular programs, as the number of students in the district does not increase. The children will require Chinese materials instead of English materials. Parents will raise funds for the additional Chinese library materials, much as the Spanish immersion parent group started with $2,600 for its first year of library books. Chinese curriculum will be heavily leveraged from neighboring successful Chinese programs in San Francisco and Cupertino. District administration will have a new program to manage, and many of the language immersion program processes have been established by Spanish immersion in its 8 years of existence. Best practices will not have to be relearned.

5. What about standardized test scores?
Over thirty years of research conducted in immersion schools throughout Canada and the United States has shown that immersion students score above average in tests of their academic skills, while achieving a remarkable degree of fluency in the second language. Students in both San Francisco's Chinese immersion program, Palo Alto's Spanish program, and Cupertino's Chinese program scored higher in all tests than their school district averages. This includes English reading, grammar, and vocabulary. Harvard University, UCLA, and several leading universities in Canada have done research showing that children in 2-way immersion programs improve their primary and secondary language proficiency, develop greater capacity for abstract thought, and enhance their overall academic achievement.

6. Why would parents select a Mandarin immersion program for their children?
Parents select Mandarin immersion to enrich their children’s educational program and enhance their cognitive development. In our increasingly interdependent world, parents realize that there are many advantages to knowing two languages. Immersion offers a unique opportunity for children to acquire a high level of proficiency in Chinese at an early age. Communicating in Chinese may be an essential job skill as well as an important asset in a multicultural world.

7. How do English speakers learn in a Mandarin classroom and Mandarin speakers in an English classroom?
Language is best learned through natural conversations and daily experiential learning activities encountered by the children throughout the day. Teachers use many second-language acquisition techniques, such as modeling, using tangible objects, and pictures to enhance and support comprehension. Language is learned through content areas focusing on speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English and Mandarin. Research shows immersion students exhibit accelerated academic achievement by the end of the fifth grade.

8. How is the Mandarin immersion program different from other Chinese schools?
After-school and weekend classes teach Mandarin only as a language. A Mandarin immersion program teaches mathematics, science and other core subjects in both Mandarin and English. The program does not teach Mandarin, it teaches in Mandarin. Immersion education leads to academic fluency and competency in two languages.