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Overview of Mandarin Immersion Programs in SFUSD

In December 2004, many parents expressed interests in Mandarin Immersion programs in the City public schools.  They attended PPS immersion task force meetings and brought the attendtion to Multilingual Language Department Director.  The District wanted the parents to be organized and show them the demands.  Therefore, in just two months parents collected more than 600 signatures for a petition on starting a MI program in elementary school to show the District the increasing demand for such a program. 
    In March 2005, Mandarin Immersion task force was formed consisting parents, PPS immersion coordinator, and multilingual deparment staff.  Meetings were conducted regularly on planning the new Mandarin Immersion programs.  Issues such as site selection, teacher recruitment, and curriculum development were discussed at those sometimes heated night meetings. 
    In June of 2005, the District made the decision and selected Starr King Elemetary School as the first site for Mandarin Immersion program in SFUSD.  Parents were very excited especially the ones live close to the school.
    In December 2005, Jose Ortega Elemetary School expressed interests to the Board of Education on implementing a Mandarin Immersion program at their school site.  It becomes the second site for MI opening the program to kindergardeners in Fall 2007. 
 

Resolution No. 65-23A3

In Support of Expanding and Strenghthening Mandarin and Other 2-Way Language Immersion Programs in San Francisco Schools

Sponsored by Commissioners Eric Mar and Eddie Chin, Approved on September 12, 2006

Two MI Sites

First Site of Mandarin Immersion Program in SFUSD

Jose Ortega is the second site for MI program in SFUSD

What is Two-Way Mandarin Immersion?

"Two-way" Mandarin Immersion program integrates Mandarin into the General Education curriculum. No prior exposure to Mandarin is necessary; it is designed for English-speaking and Mandarin-speaking students to develop communication and literacy skills in both languages. Students from homes with other languages are also welcome to participate.

For kindergarten, all core curriculum subjects (math, social studies, science, arts, etc.) are taught exclusively in Mandarin by one teacher (roughly 80% of the time). Language Arts are taught in English by a second teacher (20% of the time) at Jose Ortega. A theme is assigned for each month. Each year, the amount of instruction in English will increase. By the fifth grade, half the instruction will be in Mandarin and half in English, and students will become both bilingual and biliterate.

Our family does not speak Mandarin. Is this a problem?
No. The program is designed for non-Mandarin speaking families and for students who are bilingual or native speakers of Mandarin. If you do not speak Mandarin, you can help your child by making it a priority to learn along with him or her as a family. There are many helpful resources available through the school, online, at local bookstores, and through your local library branch (search “Mandarin”).

How do the teachers teach Mandarin? What are their qualifications?
Teachers develop close relationships with the children. They are warm, animated, and lively, which helps create an effective learning environment. Engaging the students in both academic and social growth, they emphasize the development of a caring community of learners.

 Teachers have the appropriate California teaching credential authorizing instruction in K-5 and/or Mandarin. They possess a BCLAD certification (Bilingual Cross-cultural Language Academic Development) in Mandarin.

What is the homework like?
Although Mandarin Immersion students are generally assigned more homework than is assigned for General Education students, it is not an unreasonable level of work. For example, four worksheets of Simplified Chinese characters are assigned every week in addition to homework in English assigned for the core curriculum. The goal is for our kindergarteners to be able to write 50 characters by the end of their school year, although they will recognize many others.