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San Mateo‑Foster City presents first Mandarin dual‑language immersion master plan
Summary
District staff presented a Mandarin dual‑language immersion master plan covering preschool through middle school, recommending a 50/50 one‑way model, phased script instruction (traditional to simplified), new thematic curriculum units, expanded outreach, and hiring a Mandarin TOSA to support implementation.
The San Mateo‑Foster City School District on May 22 presented its first Mandarin Dual Language Immersion Master Plan, a district task‑force product that district leaders say will guide programming from preschool through middle school.
Executive Director Aleida Parera Cruz told the board the plan documents 552 students currently enrolled in Mandarin programming in 2023–24, about 364 of them in elementary grades. “As of last year of 2023–24, we had a total of 552 students participating in the Mandarin dual language program from preschool all the way up to eighth grade,” Parera Cruz said, citing demographic and language breakdowns and the task force’s findings.
The task force — 22 members including parents, teachers and administrators, plus consultant Wendy Chung of the Stanford World Language Project — recommends the district continue a 50/50 one‑way dual immersion model (primarily serving English‑only students) rather than a 90/10 model because the district lacks a sufficiently large population of native Mandarin speakers to support the latter. The plan also recommends using traditional Chinese script in elementary grades and transitioning to simplified characters in middle school to provide access to both writing systems.
Other recommendations include creating district‑aligned thematic units that integrate content and language, sustaining focused professional development for Mandarin teachers, and hiring a Mandarin dual‑language teacher on special assignment (TOSA) to coordinate curriculum, assessments and teacher coaching across Turnbull Preschool, College Park Elementary and Bayside Middle School. Parera Cruz said the district envisions a multiyear implementation timeline with an “installation” year focused on teacher training and curriculum development.
Teachers and parents who served on the task force and attended the meeting praised the plan’s research basis and community engagement. Esther Chow, a third‑grade Mandarin teacher at College Park, said the plan gives teachers “the foundation we need to align instruction in both English and Mandarin” and asked for clear details about on‑site support and staffing during rollout. Parent and task force member Ben Tai said a TOSA role will be “critical to the program’s success.”
Board members pressed staff on outreach and staffing: trustees asked how the district will recruit teachers with both content credentials and Mandarin proficiency for middle‑school content courses. Parera Cruz said the district will work with Human Resources and draw on recruitment practices used for the Spanish dual‑language program, and agreed to follow up on whether the GATE program’s Mandarin offering will continue.
Next steps: the board reviewed the plan and solicited feedback; staff said community outreach and further operational details (including professional development timelines and precise staffing plans) will be developed before broader implementation. The district scheduled the plan’s installation phase to begin next school year.
