[VIDEO] In Capo's Chinese Classes, Everything Is Going 很好

“Nín hǎo!”

That’s the greeting students in two kindergartens, a first-grade class and a preschool class hear each morning at Bergeson Elementary in Laguna Niguel.

“Nín hǎo!”

It’s said warmly by the teachers, and it’s even heard from Principal Barbara Scholl.

This is the first year of the districtwide Mandarin Immersion Program. Capistrano Unified School District was the first public school system in Orange County to approve one. Since then, officials at Orange Unified also decided to offer the program.

Students from all over the district and even as far away as Tustin and Anaheim are attending. Enrollment at Bergeson has grown by more than 100 students this year.

Capo has long offered a dual-immersion program in Spanish, and the Chinese program is modeled similarly, Scholl said, with the students spending 80 percent of their instructional day hearing Chinese, 20 percent in English.

Unlike the Spanish program, which brings together English-speaking natives and Spanish speakers in equal numbers, only a handful of students at Bergeson have had much exposure to Mandarin, Scholl said. But staff is ready to make up for lost time.

“Studies have shown that by at least third, fourth, fifth grades, they’re producing the same, if not exceeding the standards,” said Thalia Tong, a parent who worked hard to bring the program to CUSD.

Scholl said the district recruited for the new teaching positions – teachers must have a special bilingual certification to teach; speaking Chinese is not enough – for four months, receiving 22 applications.

“We feel like we got the best of the best,” she said.

Nichole Loh is the first-grade teacher, and is “super” excited to launch the program. She was with Capo teaching Chinese at Las Flores Elementary, route: {:controller=>"listings", :action=>"show", :id=>"las-flores-elementary-school"} --> and and