Field Elementary School’s Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program

Field Elementary School’s Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Program (MDLIP) integrates native Mandarin speakers with non-native Mandarin speakers to promote academic achievement towards bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism for all students. Our program strives for academic language proficiency which encompasses the four modalities: listening, speaking, reading, and writing Mandarin and Simplified Chinese.

Why Choose the MDLIP?

Mandarin is a rich language with a long literary tradition, and has emerged as an influential worldwide language. Our MDLIP students will gain a competitive edge to navigate the global economy. English speakers will acquire a new language while native Mandarin speakers will gain fluency in their mother tongue, but all students will advance in English language arts, science, mathematics, and other subjects. Also, learning a second language fosters curiosity, sensitivity, and respect for other nations and their cultures.

Academic Advantages

The academic benefits of an immersion education are far-reaching. Research shows that the early acquisition of a second language impacts intellectual growth:

• It strengthens cognitive skills.
• Increases a student’s ability to adapt to other types of learning.
• Enhances creativity and problem-solving skills.
• Improves overall academic performance.
• Results in higher scores on standardized tests.

Field Elementary School Classrooms

In the 2019 – 2020 school year, MDLIP serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Currently, there are 484 students in our program.

FEM teachers apply the same rigorous California Common Core standards as in any other classroom to build proficiency in English and Mandarin language arts. They are fully credentialed, with additional certification in Bilingual, Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development in Mandarin (BCLAD). On any given day, you might find a classroom full of kindergarteners counting and sorting coins, first graders singing “The More We Get Together,” or second graders describing the float-or-sink properties of everyday objects—all in Mandarin!

By combining native English and native Mandarin speakers, the DLIP classrooms at Field allow students to excel in the development of both languages. The program follows the California Association of Bilingual Education (CABE) Two-Way 90:10 Model, with Kindergarten taught 90% in Mandarin, 10% in English. At each subsequent grade level, the amount of instruction in English is increased so that by fifth grade, students are taught 50% in each language.

Field Elementary School, 3600 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 396-5860 or visit www.pusd.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=15.