Why Dual Immersion
Wedgeworth Elementary School
Offering World Class Education to Our Children
Giving Students the Best of Both Worlds
Dual Immersion Program Admission Requirements
“Americans fluent in other languages improve global communication, enhance our economic competitiveness, abroad, and maintain our political and security interests.”
Center for Applied Linguistics
Immersion education is a family commitment, a family investment, and a family experience. Achieving high levels of oral, reading, and written proficiency in a second language is a long-term process. Parents and student commitment to the program is essential for success and for the school. In addition to its general admission requirements, Wedgeworth Elementary School has the following special requirements for families in the immersion program:
PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES
Ø Commit to long-term participation in the program from grades K-5.
Ø Develop understanding of dual immersion program.
Ø Ensure punctual and regular school attendance.
Ø Read with your child in English and Chinese for 20-30 minutes daily.
Ø Supervise and make sure that your children complete Mandarin Chinese homework for the day.
Ø Practice and encourage the use of Chinese outside of school.
Ø Provide support and volunteer
Ø Enjoy challenges and celebrate the results
Dual Immersion Program Goals
Students will be bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate.
Students will be able to meet or exceed state and local content standards in all subject areas.
Students will be at or above grade-level in English language skills.
Students will develop high Mandarin fluency & literacy.
Students will develop an increased cultural awareness.
Students will be sensitive to and appreciative of our diverse society.
Dual Immersion at Wedgewowoth Elmentary School
Key Program Features
A 50/50 immersion model; students receive instruction in English half of the day and in Mandarin for the other half of the day.
Content-based instruction beginning in kindergarten and continuing through fifth grade. All instruction follows the California Common Core State Standards.
Explicit instruction to heighten awareness of language forms in age appropriate ways.
Clear proficiency goals for each grade level.
Expressive and receptive language development is emphasized at all grade levels.
An integrated assessment to measure student progress toward these goals.
Language does not exist in a vacuum – it both shapes, and is shaped by, the culture of the people who speak it. Therefore, Wedgeworth’s curriculum includes elements of Chinese culture and activities such as arts, food, crafts, traditions, poetry, holidays, music, etc.
Benefits of Early Bilingual Education
Bilingual learning enhances elementary students’ intellectual development and basic skills and performance, and improves a child’s understanding of his/her native language. Studying a second language has positive effects on memory, listening, and critical thinking skills. It is our responsibility to educate students to have knowledge of other world regions, cultures, and global issues, to have skills in communicating in more than one language, and to have respect and consideration for other cultures and peoples.
Why Mandarin Chinese?
The US Government classifies Mandarin Chinese as a Category IV language - one of the most difficult languages for native English speakers to learn. It is best learned in elementary school.
Research suggests that the more difficult the language to learn, the greater the overall cognitive benefits.
Research shows that attaining fluency in a second language, particularly more difficult languages, makes learning a third or more languages much easier.
The four most widely spoken languages in the world:
Chinese: 2 billion+ (Mandarin Chinese: 1 billion+)
English: 514 million
Hindustani: 496 million
Spanish: 425 million
The growth and market potential of China, Taiwan, Singapore and other Mandarin-speaking countries are well known, and the most successful marketing always takes place in the language of the target country.