Beyond Mandarin Immersion: A Cultural Pathway to Language Mastery

Language and culture are inextricably linked but not the same. In American universities, the study of Western culture involves learning the Greek and Latin languages, but most of the content is learned in English. The study of Chinese culture also involves learning the Chinese language, but again most of it is done in English. 

Does interest in a culture lead to learning of its language or is it vice versa? And is the knowledge of culture or language more lasting or impactful to the learner? 

Many parents in the United States want their children to learn the Chinese language. Some want their American born children to connect with their Chinese cultural heritage. Some want their children to travel to China someday and be able to easily navigate and access a whole different world and culture. Some see the increasing role of China on the world stage and want their children to learn its language and culture so they can have options for their future careers. Lastly, some believe that learning a foreign language helps brain development, especially in young children. Except for the last reason, all others involve learning the language in order to access the culture.

Chinese is a very difficult language to learn, especially if one lacks a consistent spoken Chinese environment. Many American K-12 students study Chinese for 3-5 years or more in school and learn enough to be able to have a simple conversation and read and write as the equivalent of a 2nd grader in China. But most lack the discipline and motivation to continue learning or using Chinese after school and never get any deeper into the culture beyond holidays and food. Their Chinese never gets to a proficiency level where they can explore the richness and wisdom of Chinese culture that has contributed so much to human society. 

At Bert Hsu Academy, we recognize that learning Chinese culture using the Chinese language is beyond most American students' ability at any age, so we make it more accessible by teaching Chinese culture in English alongside teaching of the Chinese language.

Where and How Chinese Has Been Taught

Teaching of the Chinese language to K-12 students in the US evolved from Chinese American parents organizing themselves to teach Chinese to their children back in the 1980s and 1990s, to private and public middle and high schools offering Chinese as a second language starting in the 2000s, to private and public Chinese immersion elementary schools starting in the 2010s. For students who don’t have a Chinese speaking family environment, immersion schools where Chinese is used to teach every subject every day provide the fastest way to learn the language. 

Chinese Immersion Schools

Chinese is a very hard language to understand and speak, especially if one lacks a spoken Chinese family environment. It is even harder to learn to read and write. Children in China are obviously fluent speakers when they begin school, yet it still takes them up to three years to become literate, just like kids in America who are fluent in English but need to learn to read and write English when they start school. Chinese immersion K-5 schools in the US use spoken Chinese to teach everything starting in kindergarten through 2nd grade, “immersing” students in the language for three years. Much of the focus is placed on reading and writing as many Chinese characters as possible. As students progress into 3rd through 5th grade, the use of Chinese for instruction reduces to 50%.

The benefit of this approach is that students learn a sufficient amount of Chinese for daily use in a relatively short period of time. While additional non-colloquial Chinese words are taught, much of that vocabulary is beyond age-appropriate level for real understanding. A potential cost of this approach is that it takes time away from learning to read and comprehend English; there is, after all, only so many hours in a school day. Another key limitation of immersion schools is that if a student is not enrolled by kindergarten or 1st grade, then s/he is no longer eligible to enter the immersion track.

Chinese Language Classes

Learning Chinese as a second language became an option in middle and high schools in the US starting in the 2000s when China was fast becoming the second biggest economy in the world. Just like learning other second languages such as French or Spanish, students take Chinese class once a day or a few times a week, some starting from zero knowledge. After a few years, students acquire enough Chinese to travel to China and ask for directions and order some food.

The benefits of this approach are that students don’t need prior knowledge of Chinese, it’s easier on the students in terms of time, taking up just another class, and no pressure to use Chinese to learn other subjects like math or science. The downside is relatively less fluency compared to the immersion approach.

Culture as a Motivator to Learn  Language

Whether Chinese is learned via immersion or as a second language, students who don’t continue to use it lose it quickly. So how can parents achieve their original goals of their children learning Chinese to connect to cultural heritage, travel to China to access a different world, and enhance their future careers? There is another way, and that is to use Chinese culture as a motivator to continue learning or using the Chinese language.

Students in non-English speaking countries have been learning English using this third approach for years. Take China for example, most schools teach English starting in the 1st grade and all the way through high school. There is an English class every day where students learn to listen, speak, read and write. By the time students graduate high school, most are literate but not necessarily fluent speakers. However, some students are so interested in American culture as seen in American music, movies and TV shows, often translated into Chinese subtitles, that they take it upon themselves to learn and practice English. So culture becomes the motivator to learn the language, and language then enhances the learning of the culture, creating a positive feedback loop.

Bert Hsu Academy's Innovative Approach

Bertrand D Hsu American & Chinese Bicultural Academy (aka “Bert Hsu Academy” or “BHA”) is an innovative K-8 school that institutionalizes this third approach to intentionally teach both the Chinese language and Chinese culture. We teach Mandarin Chinese with simplified characters and Pinyin from kindergarten through 8th grade via a daily Chinese language class. Students who transfer to BHA at any grade can start learning Chinese without any prior knowledge. Simultaneously, we have Chinese Social Studies class which is taught primarily in English. The content of this class includes Chinese geography, traditional festivals, regional cuisine, tea culture, zodiac, performing arts (Peking Opera), calligraphy, ancient inventions, Chinese dynasties, philosophies (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism), traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts, classical literature and more. We also teach Chinese American history to older students. Because these classes are conducted primarily in English, there is no requirement to reach a certain level of Chinese language proficiency in order to access the content, enabling some students to connect to their cultural heritage while others to peek into a whole different culture, and motivating them to learn the language so they can visit China to see the culture in real life and enhance their future career opportunities.

Bert Hsu Academy’s innovative approach of teaching both the Chinese language and culture helps our students achieve their parents’ original goals of accessing Chinese culture as well as learning a different language for brain development. And even if language is forgotten later, students will have gained a deeper understanding of Chinese culture that will remain with them for life.