A Parent's Guide to Mandarin Immersion

by Elizabeth Weise

Whether you’re a preschool parent looking towards elementary school or a long-time Mandarin immersion family, this book will help explain how Mandarin immersion programs work and what you can expect from them. A Mandarin immersion parent herself, Elizabeth Weise gives families the background they need to make the most of the tremendous educational opportunity immersion represents. What the experts are “Weise combines journalistic writing talents with a longstanding interest in Chinese language learning to offer current and prospective parents an engaging and informative guide to Mandarin immersion education in the U.S. This handbook serves as an excellent resource— chock full of news and information about how to get the most from your child’s Mandarin immersion experience.” Dr. Tara W. Fortune, Director, Immersion Projects, Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota "If you'd like to understand the dynamics of Chinese immersion education, look no further. Beth Weise is a prescient and astute guide through this often confusing and misunderstood world. Her book is required reading for parents, administrators, and practitioners—a major contribution to the field." Chris Livaccari, Chinese Program Director, International School of the Peninsula, Palo Alto, California “This book addresses issues of concern not only to parents but anyone involved in Chinese language education. It provides amazingly complete information and statistics about Chinese immersion programs. Painfully honest, it tells us about school and school district politics surrounding the implementation of these programs. Weise’s insights make it a must-have guidebook for anyone interested in Chinese immersion.” Dr. Christy Lao, Professor of Education and expert on second language acquisition at San Francisco State University, California Chapters A history of language immersion How Mandarin immersion works Immersion and your child’s academic career Being bilingual is better Do they learn English? How much Chinese will they learn? Why schools choose Mandarin immersion Tips from parents Parent, student and school profiles

464 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2014

Reviews

[Sarah]

There aren't a lot of resources out there for parents about Mandarin Immersion students (at present), but this book makes up for it by covering a wide range of topics ranging from the history of Mandarin immersion programs in the US, types of families who choose DLI programs and why, how Mandarin programs differ from(and the same as) other language programs (Spanish, French, etc...), an introduction to the structure of the Chinese language, case studies of students who came from the US to study in China, and more.

I more or less read the whole book cover to cover (though I skimmed a few chapters here and there) and I feel much more prepared for my child to start Mandarin DLI kindergarten this fall. I have studied both Mandarin and Japanese (as an adult) so I knew what we getting into, but I didn't know how it would play out in the classroom and what to expect in terms of progress. This book helped me set expectations and gave me lots of ideas on how best to support my child's education.

It's also a beneficial read for parents who are considering Mandarin DLI for their children but are not yet committed. The early chapters of the book present a lot of wonderful information to help families make informed decisions about whether or not the program is not only right for their children, but also for the family unit as a whole. Mandarin DLI requires a lot of parent involvement in order to reach its full potential, so I think it's a good resource to help parents understand how much work they will need to do to support their children.

There aren't a lot of cons. The resource chapters of where to buy books, where to watch videos, etc... are a bit outdated. Several of the sites don't exist anymore. The later chapters have some questionable editing (typos, information repeated shortly after it was presented, etc...) but none of those take away from the usefulness of the book as a whole.

[Mimi McDonnell Black]

My kids have just started Mandarin Immersion school and this book has a lot of great information about what to expect. The book needed more editing, though. There was a lot of tangental information that probably could have been cut.