ACE- What's New

SAN FRANCISCO
Starr King Elementary talks the talk (in Mandarin)
Students crossing town for language immersion

- Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, August 21, 2006

Starr King Elementary School sits atop Potrero Hill with a sweeping view of San Francisco on one side and row after identical row of public housing on the other.

The school isn't in high demand -- there is no waiting list of eager parents hoping to enroll their kids. Although it has showed dramatic improvement in scores in recent years, Starr King is not among the high scorers on standardized tests. And over the last decade, enrollment has tumbled. There were 151 students last year, down from 406 in 1993.

As the school year began last fall, 11 classrooms sat empty and district officials toyed with closure.

But this year is different. Families from far-flung neighborhoods across the city are beginning to choose Starr King. They want their children to learn Mandarin, and a week from today the school will become the only place in the district -- indeed one of the few public elementary schools in the country -- in which the majority of instruction for the two kindergarten classes is in the Chinese national language.

The so-called dual-immersion program will bring Mandarin- and English-speaking students together so that, ultimately, the children will be bilingual and able to do schoolwork in both languages. The younger the children, the more Mandarin will be used for instruction. In kindergarten, teachers will speak Mandarin about 80 percent of the time. By fifth grade, the last year of the program, instruction will be half English and half Mandarin.

Starr King principal Christopher Rosenberg said he can't wait for this first group of kindergartners to finish the program with six years of Mandarin behind them.

He already knows what he will say to them: "You've got something fantastic."

District officials have more immediate hopes for the program: That it will lure families to a less popular school, naturally diversifying the school and spreading out enrollment in the district.

Putting the Mandarin program at Starr King is part of a district-wide effort to diversify schools through programs families choose rather than through a system of forced student assignment.

San Francisco already has 16 dual-immersion programs, and each one has a waiting list of up to 61 students. District officials say these programs are one way to spread out demand among the district's emptier schools, ease strain on high-demand sites and potentially lure in families that might otherwise choose to leave the public school system entirely.

"Not only might these kids not have gone to Starr King, but they might not have gone to San Francisco (public schools) at all," Rosenberg said of the Mandarin students.

So far, about 25 children have signed up for Starr King's Mandarin immersion program, 15 students shy of capacity. Most of the Starr King kindergartners in the program are Asian American or white, Rosenberg said. "It's a nice mix, but it's definitely a majority white, mixed (race) and Chinese," he said of the two immersion classes.

The incoming students will indeed increase diversity at the school, which is now primarily African American and Latino.

"We are going to have a demographic shift," Rosenberg said of the coming school year.

While the program will be short, students when school starts, officials say they are committed to staffing two classes, saying that other language-immersion programs took a year or two to fill up.

"We're going to really support this program," said the district's interim Superintendent Gwen Chan, of the Starr King program.

For parent Mary Jue, choosing Starr King for her daughter Lillie was easy despite the commute from their family's Sunset District home. Her eldest daughter, Laura, is in a Cantonese immersion program at West Portal Elementary, and Jue knew she wanted Lillie in a language program, too. She wants her children to have the benefit of being bilingual.

Working as a nurse one day a week at Starr King last year, Jue saw the school from the inside and loved it.

"This school is really doing incredibly well -- the climate is very positive and nurturing," she said. "The strength of the staff and leadership and the direction this school was going, why would I pass it up?"

Jue had wanted the district to expand its Mandarin program. Currently, only district high schools offer it as a foreign language. Yet, Mandarin is increasingly gaining stature as China becomes more of a global economic and political force.

Cantonese, historically the predominant dialect of San Francisco's Chinese immigrant population, has long been the focus of Chinese immersion programs in San Francisco, with five programs in the district. There are also 10 Spanish and one Korean immersion programs.

Yet demand for Mandarin instruction is increasing across the United States, said Ling-chi Wang, UC Berkeley professor of Asian American Studies.

Cupertino Unified School District has an elementary Mandarin immersion program, and Palo Alto is planning to start one next year.

In addition, Mandarin language courses now coexist with high school French or Spanish classes. And this year, the College Board began offering a Chinese Advanced Placement exam, which tests Mandarin.

"It's kind of like a stampede going on," Wang said. "There's so much interest in learning Chinese and Chinese culture and history."

San Francisco school board member Eric Mar has proposed that the Board of Education study expanding Mandarin immersion programs in city schools beyond Starr King. Students who participate in such programs "could use their skills not only for business interests, but also to be bridge builders between different communities and nations as well," Mar said.

The board will vote on Mar's resolution in the next few weeks.

Immersion programs aren't for everyone. They can be especially hard for families with no exposure to a second language.

Parent Mary Jue has already gone through the experience with her daughter Laura, who has been in the West Portal Cantonese immersion program for five years.

"The struggle for me is keeping up her enthusiasm," Jue said. "To me, it's almost kind of a faith effort. You know in 30 years, they're going to say, 'Thanks for pushing, Mom.' "

Learning languages

S.F. Unified School District will offer 17 dual-immersion programs:

1: Mandarin

1: Korean

5: Cantonese

10: Spanish

E-mail Jill Tucker at jtucker@sfchronicle.com.