Yu Ming students celebrating their 2025 Blue Ribbon award!
Do you want your child to grow up speaking, reading, and thinking in two languages? In Oakland’s charter public school language-immersion programs, students are taught core subjects in Mandarin or French and build bilingual skills from transitional kindergarten onward. Here are four reasons why Oakland’s public charter language immersion schools are special:
1. Immersion education is grounded in research and designed to develop the whole child for an interconnected world.Yu Ming Charter School’s rigorous Mandarin immersion model is built on the understanding that “bilingual education, particularly something like learning as hard as Mandarin, really increases cognitive abilities for students,” said Stacey Wang, Yu Ming’s CEO. Their program is intensive: “Students are fully in Chinese immersion all but one hour of their day when they first start at Yu Ming in the lower grades,” Wang added, and students gradually move to a balanced model by middle school. This approach yields impressive results, with the school reporting that “this past year, 88% of our students reached grade level proficiency in reading by the end of second grade,” Wang said.
Francophone Charter School of Oakland offers a rich French dual-immersion program from TK through 8th grade. Francophone’s mission is “to develop bilingual and bi-literate global citizens who are open-minded and value intellectual curiosity, personal integrity, and creativity.” They provide an academically rigorous curriculum that teaches students to excel in French and English within a vibrant, diverse community. French is spoken worldwide and is a key language across global fields, from business to the arts. Learning it gives students practical advantages for their future.
Students at Francophone engaging in active learning!
2. Oakland’s public charter language immersion schools are designed to support students, whether they are new to the language or already speakers.At Yu Ming, 80 percent of students don’t know Mandarin when they begin at the school. English Language Learner students also receive significant support and comprise about 40% of the most recent kindergarten cohort, with a clear pathway to proficiency.
Programs at Francophone Charter School are designed for both French and non-French speakers. Teachers use specialized techniques such as gestures, visual aids, and repetition to make content easier to understand. The school’s research-based approach shows that immersion students typically perform as well as or better than their peers on standardized tests in English, reading, and math.
3. Staff, teachers, and families work closely together at Oakland’s public charter immersion schools to build a supportive community where students learn to think and act as global citizens.Yu Ming emphasizes that families are important partners in student success and encourages them to actively engage in the immersion journey. The school requires 30 hours of family volunteering annually because “the school can only be as good as how our community is showing up,” Wang said. The ultimate goal is not just language fluency but becoming a global citizen.
Francophone Charter School “values and incorporates community into the life of the school,” encouraging working together and shared decision-making. The school provides clear guidance for parents who do not speak French, emphasizing that parental support and a positive attitude are key to student success. Families are welcomed as active partners in building a thriving, multicultural school environment.
4. Immersion education gives students strong bilingual and academic skills that open doors to future success.Yu Ming alumni credit the school’s program with building exceptional study habits and discipline. Their graduates have a 100% acceptance rate at four-year institutions, with students attending top universities such as Yale, Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley. One parent shared that they chose immersion so their kids can “have the world as their oyster.”
Francophone Charter School prepares students to thrive in high school, college, and careers. Their program is designed to help students entering the early grades without prior French experience become “functionally bilingual” by 8th grade. The school aims for students to develop not just language skills, but also the essential knowledge and global perspectives needed for future success.
