Chinese American International School (CAIS) is a private, independent school in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. Founded in 1981, with just ten students in the basement of a University of California Extension building, CAIS is the earliest Mandarin-English dual-language immersion school in the United States.
The school now enrolls 520 students in grades pre-K through eight on three campuses: early childhood, lower school, and middle school. CAIS follows a 50/50 Chinese/English model in the early childhood and lower school divisions and a 30/70 model in the middle school. Currently, classes in grades pre-K through five are staffed by both a lead teacher and a teaching associate. CAIS was a recipient of the Goldman Sachs Award for Excellence for International Education in 2005.
CAIS also has international travel programs for current students, high school-aged alumni, and faculty and staff. The school organizes trips to Taipei, Beijing, and Yunnan in the fifth, seventh, and eighth grades, respectively.
In the early childhood and lower school divisions, students learn language arts, social studies, math, and health in Chinese. Language arts, social studies, math, lab science, and PE are taught in English, and the visual and performing arts are taught in both languages, with a selection of language dependent on staffing. The school has dual language social-emotional learning programs both in the classroom and on the playground. In middle school, language arts and social studies and some art classes are taught in Chinese.
CAIS employs a Chinese-speaking educational technology integrator for all divisions, and technology skills are integrated directly into the curriculum in all subjects in both Chinese and English. Coding and design are separate classes taught in English.
According to asiasociety.org. Source of photos: internet
