MINNEAPOLIS — On weekday mornings, a stream of orange buses and private cars from 75 Minnesota postal codes wrap around Yinghua Academy, the first publicly funded Chinese-immersion charter school in the United States, in the middle-class neighborhood of Northeast Minneapolis. Most pupils, from kindergarten to eighth grade, dash to bright-colored classrooms for the 8:45 a.m. bell, eager to begin “morning meeting,” a freewheeling conversation in colloquial Mandarin.
明尼阿波利斯——位于明尼阿波利斯东北部中产社区的英华学院(Yinghua Academy)，是美国第一所公立中文浸入式特许学校。每到工作日的早上，这所学校周围都环绕着由橘黄色校车和私家车构成的车流，它们来自明尼苏达州的75个邮政区。上午8点45分的铃声一响，从幼儿园到八年级的大部分学生就会冲进色彩鲜艳的教室，迫不及待地参加“早会”——用汉语普通话自由交谈。

Meanwhile, two grades form five perfect lines in the gym for calisthenics, Chinese style. Dressed neatly in the school’s blue uniforms, the students enthusiastically count each move — “liu, qi, ba, jiu, shi.”
与此同时，还有两个年级的学生在体育馆里排成五条笔直的队伍，跳中式健美操。学生们穿着整洁的蓝色校服，充满热情地数着每一个动作——“六、七、八、九、十。”
By 9:15, a calm sense of order pervades the school as formal instruction begins for math, reading, social studies, history and science. Instructors teach in Mandarin, often asking questions that prompt a flurry of raised hands. No one seems to speak out of turn. “We bring together both East and West traditions,” explains the academic director, Luyi Lien, who tries to balance Eastern discipline with Western fun.
9点15分，数学、阅读、社会研究、历史、科学等科目的正式授课时间到了，校园里变得平静有序。教师以汉语授课，他们频繁提出问题，引得学生们纷纷举手。似乎没有谁随意开口。“我们把东西方的传统融合在了一起，”试图在东方的纪律性和西方的趣味性之间找到平衡的教务主任连鹭役(Luyi Lien)解释。
Ms. Lien helped start Yinghua, which means “English Chinese,” with just 76 students and four teachers in 2006. This autumn a new addition opened that doubled capacity to handle the growing numbers of students. The school now has 660 students, all awarded tuition-free places by lottery. Yinghua is expected to be at its full capacity of 800 students by 2021.
连鹭役在2006年帮助创办了英华，最初只有76名学生和四名教师。随着学生人数的不断增长，学校进行了扩建。新增部分于今年秋天投入运营，学校的师生容量翻了一番。英华目前有660名学生，均通过抽签获得在这里就读的机会，学费全免。英华预计，到2021年，学校将满负荷运转，在校生将达到800人。
The student-teacher ratio is 10 to one, and 78 percent of the teachers hold advanced degrees, many of them from American universities; three have Ph.D.’s. All receive training in the United States, including two teachers paid for by Hanban, an affiliate of China’s Ministry of Education.
学生与教师的比例是10比1。78%的老师有高等学历，其中很多人毕业于美国的大学，还有三位获得了博士学位。包括由中国教育部下属的国家汉办支付薪酬的两名教师在内，所有教务人员都在美国接受了培训。
Yinghua Academy is among a handful of total-immersion schools, though the United States has 175 Chinese-immersion programs within regular schools across the country, 18 begun this academic year alone. While immersion programs have a mix of English and Chinese classes, Yinghua teaches all academic subjects in Chinese through fourth grade before moving to a half-English model for grades five to eight.
美国本土的常规中小学校总共开设了175项中文浸入式课程，仅本学年就新增了18项。然而，全中文浸入式学校只有少数几所，英华就是其中之一。浸入式课程的授课语言既有英文又有中文，但在英华，四年级及以下所有学科的授课语言都是中文，进入五至八年级，才会切换到半英文半中文的教学模式。
Total-immersion schools groom students with deeper cultural understanding and stronger Mandarin skills, particularly in reading and writing, Ms. Lien said. “Our goal is real bilingualism by eighth grade, which is near native,” she said.
连鹭役表示，全中文浸入式学校培养出的学生对中华文化有更深的理解，汉语技能也更好一些，尤其是在阅读和写作方面。“我们的目标是，学生读到八年级时要能真正谙熟两门语言，接近母语水平，”她说。
At Yinghua, the process is intense. Just ahead of snack time in kindergarten, the teacher, who speaks only in Mandarin, thrusts an orange plastic disk in the air and 28 little hands shoot up. She points to one girl who answers correctly — “chengse” — before dashing to the nearby sink to wash her hands. In just minutes, all the students have identified a color and are happily tearing open their snacks. One 5-year-old asks, “Can you open this?” The teacher replies, “bangmang dakai?” On cue, the child repeats and then says, “xie xie” — thank you.
在英华学院，实现这一目标的过程充满紧张感。就在学前班的加餐时间之前，那位只说汉语的教师把一个橙色的塑料盘子举到半空中，立即有28只小手挥舞了起来。她朝一个女孩指了一下，后者正确无误地答出了“橙色”，接着便冲到附近的水池洗手。仅仅几分钟之内，所有学生都辨认出了一种颜色，高兴地打开了餐点的包装。一个5岁的学生用英语问道，“你能把这个打开吗？”老师用中文回答，“帮忙打开？”收到提示，那个孩子重复了老师的话，随后用汉语说了声“谢谢”。
“Yinghua is the best of the best,” according to Hattie Bonds, the mother of two children at the school and a former associate superintendent for Minneapolis public schools. “The first week my son came home from kindergarten and taught my 3-year-old to count to 10 in Chinese,” she recalled. “High expectations are yoked to high results.”
“英华堪称佼佼者，”身为母亲的哈蒂·邦兹(Hattie Bonds)说。邦兹的两个孩子都在这所学校就读，她本人曾是明尼阿波利斯地区公立学校的助理学监。“我儿子刚上了一星期的学前班，回家后就能教3岁的那个用中文从1数到10了，”她回忆道。“高目标是和好成绩联系在一起的。”
In Minnesota standardized tests, Yinghua students perform at least as well or better than their public school counterparts, even though English classes begin only at age 7. In Minnesota’s Multiple Measure Rating system, Yinghua has ranked within the top 15 percent of all Minnesota public schools for the past three years. (That includes the Focus Rate ranking, which measures the school’s reduction in the achievement gap between higher and lower socioeconomic groups.)
在明尼苏达州的标准化考试中，英华考生的成绩至少与其他公立学校的考生相仿，甚至还更好一些，尽管他们直到7岁才开始上英文课。在明尼苏达州的多元标准评估(Multiple Measure Rating)体系中，英华已经连续三年跻身该州所有公立学校的前15%之列。（其中包括关注率[Focus Rate]的排名，它所衡量的是这所学校在缩小较高和较低社会经济阶层成绩差异方面取得的成效。）
A primary reason, according to the executive director, Susan Berg, is the students’ home environment. Parents who choose immersion are often well educated themselves, and are highly committed to the school’s goals, including nightly homework.
英华学院执行院长苏珊·伯格(Susan Berg)认为，主要原因在于学生的家庭环境。为孩子选择浸入式教育的家长通常受过良好的教育，并且高度认同该校的教学目标，包括晚上的家庭作业。
Math results, which are particularly strong, are partly attributed to the Singapore Math curriculum and its eight-step approach to word problems, as well as the Chinese-educated teachers who move through material more quickly than their American peers.
该校学生尤为突出的数学成绩，部分得益于《新加坡数学》(Singapore Math)课程及其应用题八步解题法。还有一个因素是，受过中文教育的老师能比他们的美国同行更快地通晓教材。
Mathematical terms in Mandarin are also clearer. The word for “triangle,” for instance, “sanjiaoxing,” means three-sided. And when counting to 100, the Chinese use only 10 numbers to build all others; 71, for instance, is written 7-10-1. “The number system is easier to work with,” said Mary McDonald, a seventh-grader who takes an extra university math class once a week. “It’s faster and more organized.”
以汉语表达的数学用语也更清晰明了。举例来说，与“triangle”相对应的“三角形”，意味着有三条边。此外，从1到100，中国人只用10个基本数字就能构成其他数字；举例来说，71写作“七十一”。“这个数字体系使用起来很简便，”每周都要额外上一堂大学数学课的七年级生玛丽·麦克唐纳(Mary McDonald)说，“它更快捷，也更有条理。”
Research also shows that early immersion produces cognitive benefits. “These students are better at nonverbal problem solving,” said Dr. Tara Fortune, of the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition at the University of Minnesota. “They have better executive control to focus on relevant information, and better listening skills.”
此外有研究表明，较早接受浸入式教育有助于增进孩子的认知能力。“这些学生能更好解决非言语性问题，”明尼苏达大学(University of Minnesota)语言习得高级研究中心(Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition)的特拉·福琼博士(Tara Fortun)说，“他们有更强的执行控制能力，可以把注意力集中在相关的信息上；他们的听力技巧也更好一些。”
Yinghua’s retention rate this autumn was 93 percent. Asians and Pacific Islanders comprise 47 percent of the student body; Caucasians, 46 percent. At the school, 13 percent qualify for free or reduced school lunches and 8 percent are special-education students. According to Mrs. Berg, almost all the students flourish in immersion, including those with special needs. “These students do well, relatively speaking,” she said. “They are so proud they know Chinese.”
英华今年秋季的学生留校率为93%。亚裔及太平洋岛屿裔学生占在校生的47%；白人学生占46％。在这所学校里，13%的学生有资格享用免费或减价的午餐；接受特殊教育的学生占8%。伯格称，包括有特殊需求者在内，几乎所有学生都在浸入式教育中如鱼得水。“这些学生表现得很好，相对而言，”她说，“他们为自己懂中文而感到自豪。”
Chinese immersion is apparently an American phenomenon, fueled since 2000 by impressive French and Spanish immersion test results, new charter schools that tap local school district funds, federal grants and, notably, substantial infusions of Chinese government support, particularly since 2004.
目前看来，中文浸入式教育的风潮主要存在于美国。这股风潮始于2000年，法语和西班牙语浸入式教育试验所取得的可观成效对它起到了推动作用。另一个促成因素在于，一批新的特许学校能从当地学区拿到经费，能得到联邦政府的拨款，尤其是还获得了中国政府的大力支持，特别是从2004年开始。
But the scope is broadening. China will highlight immersion for the first time at a conference in Europe early next year. “Immersion is still new to the Chinese,” said Joan Brzezinski, executive director of Minnesota’s Confucius Institute. “But they see the results and they now want to reach out to their Confucius Institutes in other countries.”
不过，中文浸入式教育正在扩大。明年年初，中国将在欧洲的一个会议上首次着重介绍这种教育模式。“对中国人而言，浸入式教育还是一个新生事物，”明尼苏达州孔子学院的执行主管琼·布热津斯基(Joan Brzezinski)说。“但他们看到了成果，现在想让孔子学院在其他国家遍地开花。”
Since 2004, China has set up 465 Confucius Institutes and 713 Confucius classrooms in 123 countries. The institutes, mostly on university campuses, offer schools compelling incentives. China will cover budget costs for teacher training, materials, top-notch cultural programs and student exchanges. China also offers $10,000 grants to all schools that start teaching Mandarin.
自2004年以来，中国已经在123个国家开办了465所孔子学院和713个孔子课堂。多半设在大学校园里的孔子学院，推出了对学校颇具吸引力的激励措施。中国将承担培训教师、购置教材、开设一流文化课程以及进行学生交换项目的预算费用；并向所有开始教授汉语的学校提供1万美元的补助。
No figures exist for Chinese immersion efforts outside North America, according to an email response from a Hanban spokesman.
国家汉办的一位发言人通过邮件回复采访提问时称，关于在北美之外对中文浸入式教育的推广，目前还没有具体数据。
While Ms. Brzezinski knows of several immersion programs in Canada, and one in Britain, she says other countries still teach Mandarin as a second language, albeit with impressive results in certain countries, such as Singapore. (Chinese Singaporeans begin Mandarin at an early age and continue through high school.)
据布热津斯基所知，加拿大有若干个中文浸入式课程，英国也有一个，但她表示，其他国家仍然在把汉语当成第二语言来教授，尽管在某些国家里卓有成效，比如新加坡。（新加坡华人很小就开始学习汉语，一直要学到高中毕业。）
Dr. Shuhan Wang, director of the Asia Society’s Chinese Early Language and Immersion Network, based in New York, calls Minnesota a “hidden gem” in the immersion movement. (Other key states include Utah, California, Delaware, Washington, Oregon and North Carolina.) She credits Minnesota’s Concordia College Language Villages for the model of an immersion laboratory. In 1984, it opened the Sen Lin Hu, or “Lake of the Woods,” Chinese village as part of its summer camp immersion programs. “Sen Lin Hu proved that immersion works,” Dr. Wang said. “It gave us both knowledge and best practice.”
在位于纽约的亚洲协会(Asia Society)中文启蒙与浸入式教育联盟(Chinese Early Language and Immersion Network)担任主管的王周淑涵博士(Shuhan Wang)，把明尼苏达州称为浸入式教育运动的一块“隐蔽的宝地”。（发挥关键作用的还有犹他州、加利福尼亚州、特拉华州、华盛顿州、俄勒冈州和北卡罗来纳州。）她对明尼苏达州的协和学院语言村项目(Concordia College Language Villages)给予了赞扬，称其为浸入式教育实验室的样板。该项目包含多门以夏令营形式开办的语言浸入式课程，其中的“森林湖”(Lake of the Woods)中文浸入式课程启动于1984年。“森林湖证明浸入式教育是可行的，”王周淑涵说，“它不仅让人学到了知识，还贡献了一种最佳实践。”
The United States Department of Education stopped funding Chinese immersion in 2012, Dr. Wang said, though the Department of Defense still contributes a minimal amount. These days additional support comes from state budgets and from China. “By having people learn Chinese, it becomes a global language,” she said.
王周淑涵称，美国教育部在2012年停止了对中文浸入式教育项目的资助，不过国防部依然在给予微量拨款。现如今，有额外的资助来自州级预算以及中国方面。“通过让人学习中文，它日益成了一种国际性语言，”她说。
After school at Yinghua, preparations are underway for Grandparents’ Day, in line with the Chinese tradition of honoring family elders. Banners are already hung as teachers meet with students to hone speeches and parent volunteers prepare food. Also on the agenda: a presentation on a middle school trip to China, where students visit a sister school and stay with Chinese families.
在英华学院，放学后，大家都为祖父母节(Grandparents’ Day)做着准备。这符合华人尊重长辈的传统。在教师和学生碰头打磨演讲稿、家长志愿者准备食物的时候，横幅已经悬挂起来了。被提上日程的还有：介绍初中生的一趟中国之旅。在那里，学生们拜访了一所姊妹学校，还与中国家庭同住。
Once students leave Yinghua to attend various high schools, they now have the option of continuing Chinese. Dr. Lien developed an online credit course that debuted in September, which includes chat rooms. “These students are well positioned to compete in a global market,” Dr. Fortune said. “The language is a key part of what they will offer.”
现在，学生离开英华进入不同的高中后，也有机会继续学习中文。连鹭役设计的一种在线学分制课程已于9月份启动，里边还有聊天室。“这些学生在全球市场上具有竞争优势，”福琼说，“中文是他们技能的重要组成部分。”