History of the Piedmont Unified School District
Mandarin Program
The Piedmont Unified School District Mandarin program dates to the 1995-96 school year, when it replaced the German program. We began by offering Mandarin I and II in 1995-96 and, after gradual expansion of the program, introduced Mandarin V in 2001-02. Currently, Mandarin V is an Honors course, and in 2007-08 an Advanced Placement class will also be offered.
The PUSD offers a 5-year sequential foreign language program in Mandarin, beginning in 7th grade. Through our partnership with the Piedmont Language School, a before/after school enrichment program, our students in grades K-6 can begin receiving instruction in Mandarin to help prepare them for our district's academic language program.
In 2003-04, PUSD was awarded a federal Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant totaling $245,350 over 3 years to improve the existing Mandarin program, and create a national model curriculum for other schools to replicate. The Piedmont Asian American Club funded the writing of the grant proposal, and has been instrumental as a resource for the Mandarin program since its inception.
The FLAP grant has funded:
- a modern portable language lab at the high school;
- writing of an improved curriculum;
- purchase of additional text books and reference materials;
- support for a trip to China during spring break for students and their parents;
- student participation in the California annual Mandarin speech contest;
- development of a Mandarin-program website;
- fees for guest speakers and demonstrations;
- hiring of grant program director and professional outside evaluator to monitor program progress;
- staff development for teachers at all levels, including:
- intensive summer training and on-going workshops for teachers;
- collaborative meetings between teachers from all sites;
- attendance of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) national conferences;
Each year the FLAP Grant also funded one small-sized Mandarin class for the school district. With the help of the grant, class enrollment has been increased, faculty stabilized, and the curriculum is now aligned with National Foreign Language Standards.
Our Mandarin program utilizes the Ni Hao! series to provide an integrated, sequential course for beginning and advancing students (Mandarin I - IV). In Mandarin V, we use Oh, China! as the basic text book, but also extract sections from Taiwan Today, Integrated Chinese, and several other textbook resources to supplement the curriculum. The faculty has created supplementary materials at all levels to expand the number of Chinese characters students learn-from the 500 introduced by the textbooks to roughly 1,200 characters-to augment instruction on grammar, and to provide communicative activities, games, and extra cultural information to help students practice the grammar structures and explore the cultural notes introduced in the textbooks.