What makes dual language education the best path to fluency in Mandarin Chinese and English?
Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most spoken language. It is also one of the most difficult languages to learn for nonnative speakers and requires thousands of hours of class time for proficiency, which is best provided in an immersion setting. Immersion focuses instruction in the target language (Mandarin Chinese) as much as possible especially in early grades so that it is used in multiple ways rather than only studying it as one isolated school subject. English is introduced starting in first grade until both languages are used for instruction in all school subjects. Proficiency follows with research evidence demonstrating that dual language learners not only reach fluency in both languages but develop increased cultural awareness, metacognitive skills, and high levels of academic achievement, according to the Center for Applied Linguistics (CARLA). PIACS uses two-way immersion (TWI) with an initial goal of at-least one-third of the target and nontarget language speakers in each clas
