Middle School Chinese Immersion

In middle school, students participate in each of their three electives daily.

Both the Humanities and STEAM electives for Chinese Immersion will be taught in Chinese. Students will actively use their Chinese language skills throughout each course.

Most likely, one elective will be offered in the fall and the other in the spring. For example, sixth grade STEAM may be offered in the fall, and sixth grade Humanities in the spring.

No. If a student takes the Chinese Immersion STEAM course during all three years of middle school, they will have different learning experiences each year. The course content is designed to vary by grade level.

Yes, the core English Language Arts course is a required course. In this course students learn the grade level standards for reading, writing, speaking and listening in English. In the Humanities Chinese Immersion elective, students will learn through the Chinese language and will address different standards and learning targets. 

Beyond being enrolled in the Chinese Language Arts course concurrently, there is not a prerequisite for the Humanities and STEAM courses. In the example above, the student could enroll in the Humanities course in 6th grade and the STEAM course in 7th grade. 

All students are required to take one semester of physical education each year. Students in grades 7 and 8 may take PE online. Sixth-grade students enrolled in the full 2.0 Chinese Immersion course load are also eligible to take PE online.

Middle school administrators and counselors strive to honor elective choices for all students whenever possible. Every effort will be made to ensure Chinese Immersion students can enroll in CLA, as well as the Chinese Immersion STEAM and Humanities electives if requested. However, immersion students will not receive preferential scheduling for general elective courses.

Yes. Per Board of Education policy, if a student completes the full middle school world language sequence—in this instance CLA 6, 7, and 8—in a Blue Valley middle school, they may request to have two high school credits applied to their high school transcript.

The grades from each semester of 7th and 8th grade Chinese Language Arts will appear on the student’s high school transcript and be calculated into their high school GPA.

The elective courses currently offered in our middle schools can be found in the Middle School Course Guide. 

As with all programs, staffing is contingent on enrollment. We will fully staff programs at each site based on enrollment needs. 

Yes. Students enrolled in the Chinese Immersion Language Arts course will engage in a different curriculum than students in Chinese 6, 7, or 8, which is designed for those who are beginning their Mandarin studies.

The Chinese Language Arts course is where the explicit instruction focused on language acquisition will take place. The focus is specifically on reading, writing, speaking and listening in the Chinese Language and moving students towards deeper levels of proficiency.  In contrast, the STEAM and Humanities electives will allow students additional opportunities to apply their language skills, while also reinforcing other core area standards.

As with all world language courses, students will benefit from differentiated instruction in CLA. There will be three levels of CLA in middle school, one for each grade level.

The proficiency level targets for our middle school students can be found in the Middle School Chinese Program Proficiency Targets in Blue Valley document.

In addition to classroom assessments, students will take the STAMP assessment in the spring of the 6th and 8th grade years.