District 67 Faces March 4 Deadline for Mandarin Immersion Program

Some kindergartners entering this fall may have the opportunity to learn a second language.

The district may offer a full-day Mandarin Immersion Program for kindergartners in the 2011-12 school year. It could also be offered for some first-graders. District officials expect to decide by March 4 whether the program will be offered.

“We want to develop dual-language learners here,” said Andy Henrikson, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

The district held a series of informational meetings for parents this month. About 60 people attended a meeting on Feb. 23, and another 25 attended the Feb. 24 session. Henrikson spent time explaining the district’s existing program and what the Mandarin Immersion Program would look like should the district determine it has the available staffing to move forward with the program this fall.

“I’m real proud of our existing program,” said Henrikson.

Currently, District 67 students start learning languages in second grade with Latin lessons twice a week for 30 minutes. Then, in third grade, students are given 15 lessons of French, Latin, Mandarin and Spanish. By fourth grade, students are able to choose one language to learn in three, 30-minute sessions each week.

Students in fifth through eighth grades continue on with that language during five, 47-minute sessions each week. District 67 students are then able to enter Lake Forest High School at Level II or Level II Honors their freshman year.

“But we’re interested in changing because we’ve been saying in Lake Forest that we’re world-class,” said Henrikson, adding that in Europe and Asia, students start learning other languages early.

Mandarin, he said, is the most spoken language in the world, and, for the most part, it’s easy to learn.

Henrikson said unlike Spanish, for example, there is no verb conjugation or number agreement. “’Three book’ is fine,” said Henrikson.

Additionally, the days and months are simpler, he said, including “first month” and “second month.” The Mandarin dictionary, he added, is much smaller than the English dictionary.

“The difficulty of Mandarin is the tones,” he said, noting there are four distinct tones in the Mandarin language.

Children, however, can more easily pick up on these differences. Joe Malin, the district's research and assessment coordinator, said a child’s brain flexibility makes it easier for him or her to learn a new language. Immersion programs in particular allow for greater success and proficiency, he added.

The District 67 Mandarin Immersion Program in kindergarten would consist of English instruction for about half of the day, followed by Mandarin instruction for reinforcement in math and language learning.

First-graders would be taught in English for language arts and science, and in Mandarin for Everyday Math and social sciences. Existing English-language teachers would pair up with a native Chinese speaker to teach students.

“We’ve been kind of overwhelmed with interest,” Henrikson said.

So far, 26 students have been pre-registered for the kindergarten Mandarin Immersion Program, while 18 students have been pre-registered for the first grade program. The class size limit, Henrikson said, is 22 students. Should there not be enough students registered to necessitate two kindergarten classes, the district will be forced to hold a lottery to determine which students would be enrolled in the program. The lottery would be held at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 28.

“If we climb even just a little bit in kindergarten, we’ll have two classes and there will be no lottery,” he said.

Students will be bused to Cherokee Elementary School for the program. Busing, Henrikson said, will be free. Students will be bused from what would have been their home school, either Everett or Sheridan, to Cherokee.

“Cherokee is going to be your child’s home school,” said Henrikson.