A Kindergartener's Year In A Mandarin-Immersion School

By Deepa Fernandes / NPR

Published August 12, 2015 at 10:48 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

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Inside a family's year of kindergarten from KPCC follows the story of kindergartner Gemma Gomez at Eugene Field Elementary, a Mandarin immersion school in Pasadena, Calif.

Teacher Tingting Mei reads a book in Mandarin to kindergarteners. Mei says repetition is how she helps her students master the language.

Kindergarten is a huge moment in a child's life. So imagine if your parents sent you to a school where they teach most of the day in a language you don't speak, like Spanish or German or Japanese. In California, a growing number of families are choosing schools like this. It's called dual-language immersion. Reporter Deepa Fernandes followed the Gomez family this past year as their daughter, Gemma, attended a public school that teaches in Mandarin.