We’ve now got 264 Mandarin immersion schools in the United States
Mind you, a few of them don’t launch until next academic year, but every one on my newly-updated list seems very likely to start. The ones I’m not sure of I don’t include until they’re actually off the ground.
Here’s the full list: MIP list 2018-08-30.
August 28, 2018 Additions and changes.
ADDITIONS
- East Light Academy opens in Charleston, SC. This is a sister school to East Link Academy in Greenville, SC, and I believe also to East Voyager Academy in Charlotte, NC.
- Lam School, private K – 8 in Brooklyn, NY. This is the first U.S. outpost of a school with 5 campuses in Taipei in Taiwan.
- International Montessori School, Durham NC. Had Spanish and French immersion. Added Mandarin immersion in the past few years. Trying to get more information.
- Yi Hwang Academy of Language Excellence in Gwinnett Co., Georgia. Mandarin/Korean immersion opening in 2019-2020
- Science, Language & Arts International School launching a private K – 8 Chinese immersion program in Brooklyn in 2019-2020. It has a Mandarin Pre-K in place now and a long-time French immersion program.
- PS/IS 102Q Bayview School, Queens
- I received a note from a parent at this school that 102Q has a new K-8 Mandarin immersion program. There’s nothing on the website to indicate it does and no one answers the phones, but that’s not uncommon with NYC schools. So, If anyone has more info on it, please pass along.
CHANGES:
- New name for Barnard Asian Pacific Language Academy, it’s now Barnard Mandarin Magnet Elementary School,
- Hopkins Public Schools in Hopkins, Minn.: Xin Xing Academy now feeds to a program at West Junior High which feeds to Hopkins High School. The Mandarin program is now up to 11th grade.
- College Gardens Elementary School’s Mandarin immersion program in Rockville, Maryland has moved to Bayard Rustin Elementary School.
Deletions:
- Camelot Academy, Orange County, Calif.
- This appears to have shifted from being a Mandarin immersion program to an arts and dance-focused private school. It also appears that the school brings in a lot of students from China to study there, unclear exactly how this interacts with its Mandarin program. I’ve asked for more information. One parent told me the amount of time students spend in Chinese is decreasing.
Notes on the list
The list will download to your computer, not open in a new window. There are three tabs at the bottom left-hand side of the spread sheet. One is for U.S. programs, one for international (which isn’t fully representative as it’s difficult for me to get information about programs outside the United States) and one for Cantonese immersion programs.
As always, please tell me if you know of a school that’s not listed here and should be, or one whose listing contains errors. I strive to keep the list as up-to-date as possible but don’t always hear about new schools or changes.
Please note that the list doesn’t include preschools, only elementary, middle and high schools.
Also, I use the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) definition of immersion. This is that at least 50% of the day in elementary school is taught in Mandarin and that academic subjects are taught in Mandarin, not simply that Mandarin is taught.
Note that the 50% rule only applies to K-5 schools. For middle and high school programs, they simply need to be continuations of an elementary school immersion program. Most offer one or two classes per day or Mandarin immersion students, so typically 20% or 30% of the day taught in Mandarin.
Note that in the column listing grades offered, 0 = Kindergarten. That way it’s easier to sort by grade, Excel didn’t know what to do with K’s. So 0 – 5 means the school offers immersion in Kindergarten through fifth grade.
Thanks
Elizabeth Weise, author, A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion
immersioneducation (at) gmail (dot) com
