Immersion-based learning

All Mandarin Stars programs are immersion-based, as we have found this to be the most effective way to teach Mandarin as a foreign language. In an immersion-based environment, children easily learn numbers, colours and basic phrases such as ‘Yes please’, ‘No thank you’ and ‘I want/don’t want’.

In Bubs and Toddler classes, our teachers aim to speak Mandarin 90-100% of the time, and in the Pre School classes, an average of 80%. For primary school children (ages 5+) we reduce the immersion environment to about 70-80%, as teachers start balancing more complex explanations in English into the session.

Meaningful and relevant content

The Mandarin Stars program is also very child-centric and emergent; content is researched and developed on an ongoing basis to ensure that the topics we teach and the resources we use are meaningful and relevant to our young learners. Our teaching team creates a dedicated Workbook (and accompanying CD) each term for our students. We also choose new topics to teach at regular staff workshops held at least 6 times a year, and consult with students and our parent community about topics and vocabulary they wish to learn.