The Cupertino Courier
Education
Language immersion program hits milestone
By Erin Hussey
More than 10 years ago, a group of parents and community members presented the Cupertino Union School District governingboard with the idea of creating a Mandarin language immersion program. It sparked a heated debate that lasted close to a year, but was ultimately approved in 1998.
This June, the Cupertino Language Immersion Program (CLIP) celebrated a major milestone with its first graduation of eighth-grade students.
Similar to any start-up in the Silicon Valley, CLIP had to prove it could be successful for its student clientele.
"We've always wanted to make sure that anything we have in our district is really going to be supportive and beneficial to the students, and CLIP has really shown that," says Pearl Cheng, a district trustee.
During its first year, CLIP looked more like a foreign language program, incorporating only one hour of Mandarin language instruction into the normal state mandated kindergarten curriculum.
The following year, the district hired Mary Jew to help shape the program into more of an immersion one.
"Their subject matter is taught in a particular language of delivery," explains Cheng.
After much research and thought, Cheng and her husband decided to enroll their youngest son in the program. He is currently in the seventh grade and speaks, reads and comprehends Mandarin better than either of his parents.
"It's not learning a foreign language, but learning your academic material in a foreign language,'' says Cheng.
When CLIP students enter kindergarten, whether they speak all English, all Mandarin or a mixture of both, they are taught using 30 percent English and 70 percent Mandarin.
Teachers do not rely on translation, but rather use materials they have created themselves based on the English version of state-approved texts. Federal grants as well as parent/community funds are responsible for covering the costs of the necessary Mandarin resources and teacher training.
"In the beginning, we wanted to create an environment where they can get a solid foundation of Mandarin," says Jew.
CLIP uses the National Standards for Foreign Language Education model, relying on the five Cs: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons and communities to mold their students into bilingual and biliterate citizens.
"There is no way that they won't learn English. It is always around them, on the playground, on television and on the streets,'' says Jew.
As the students move up grade levels, the percentage of Mandarin used in the classroom decreases from 70 percent to 60 percent to 50 percent. Then, once the students enter middle school, two of their seven class periods are taught entirely in Mandarin.
"What has been good about the middle school program is that the kids have been integrated into the middle school experience--they can take all the electives, participate in the after-school programs and play sports," Jew says.
Of the 18 kindergartners who were the first to enroll in CLIP, six of them remained in the program and were honored on June 1.
"We're hoping that they will be able to get into AP or upper-level Chinese classes in high school," says Jew. At this time, there are no plans to extend the CLIP program to the high school level.
Today there are approximately 300 district students in CLIP. Their family backgrounds include Chinese, Japanese, European, Korean, Hispanic and Malaysian.
To enroll, students must live within the boundaries of the district and enter a lottery that selects the students at random.
