This class is held from 1 PM to 4 PM  at our Danville and Pleasant Hill campuses only. This Primary class offers children a multi-age Mandarin community in which to explore the Montessori prepared classroom. Our Mandarin Immersion program offers a 100% Mandarin speaking environment. Both teachers are native Mandarin speakers and the program strives for a natural language learning experience.

Many parents would like their children to have the advantages of bilingualism. The ability to understand and speak more than one language is not the only benefit of immersion education. This authentic communication allows students to learn a second language in a similar manner to the way that they have learned their first. Immersion programs have generally produced better second-language proficiency results than traditional foreign language teaching strategies. The intensive exposure to the target language is important because it allows the child to quickly reach second-language proficiency.

This multi-age grouping (ages 2.5-6 years) is successful because the older child learns by being the leader in the classroom, and the younger child learns by observing the older child. This environment is intended to serve the child for two years.

The overall goals of this classroom are order, concentration, coordination, and independence. The children enjoy self-directed activities and experiences in the different areas of the classroom. Each area of the classroom — practical life, sensorial, language, math, cultural subjects (sciences), and art/music — is designed to invite the child to choose focused, purposeful work.

The children come together daily at circle for songs, poems, stories, demonstrations of work, games, and opportunities for expressive Mandarin language and social development. The Primary class supports the child’s sense of wonder and blossoming personhood.