American mandarin immersion programs elementary schools are in high demand

China news service Washington, March 8

In January this year, Chinese President hu jintao during visited the United States, during that time a group of America’s schoolchildren did Chinese traditional singing and dancing to welcome President was catching the eyes, this batch of kids that are able to speak Chinese are currently accepting a course known as “immersion” in Chinese education, now the use of stationery and homogeneous synchronization of American curriculum model is welcomed by more and more americans.

The primary school students who participated in welcoming hu jintao came from the Chinese department of Baltimore international school. On January 8, they were invited to visit the Chinese embassy in the United States, which was their first close contact with Chinese culture. The oldest is in second grade and the youngest is in preschool. Although they are still young, they have been learning Chinese since they entered the school. Many children can introduce themselves and communicate with each other in Chinese.

Xiao-xia zhang, director of the university Chinese department, told reporters in Baltimore international school is a public school, of which the education in 2007 began to recruit students, existing jiada primary and senior school students, the curriculum adopts the best mandarin immersion programs, and all courses are in Chinese teaching, students are all from the American families.

Their teaching content is the same as that of primary and secondary schools in the United States, and they can also let their children learn one more language, so it is very popular and more and more American parents are willing to send their children here, zhang said.

In 1996, the Potomac elementary school in the Washington area pioneered “immersion” Chinese language instruction in the United States. In 2007, an elementary school in California avoided closure by adopting the full-time Chinese language teaching method. Since then, there’re growing demands of elementary schools in Massachusetts, Oregon and Utah have adopted the model.

As the “Chinese fever” continues to heat up, “immersion” Chinese primary schools are gaining popularity among more and more American families. Statistics show that in 2000, there were about 5,000 American children receiving “immersion” Chinese education, and by 2010 there were 60,000.