Traditional Chinese 中文沉浸學校 Phone +1 713-295-5276 | Simplified Chinese 中文沉浸学校 Founded 2012 | |
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Hanyu Pinyin Address 2622, 5445 W Alabama St, Houston, TX 77056, United States Similar Condit Elementary School, Parker Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Montessori, Reynolds Elementary School, The High School For The Perfo | ||
Grand opening mandarin immersion magnet school
The Mandarin Immersion Magnet School (MIMS), formerly the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School (MCLIMS) is a magnet primary school located in Houston, Texas. It is a part of the Houston Independent School District. The school's current campus in the St. George Place area of Houston opened in August 2016; it was previously located in the former Maud Gordon Elementary School in Bellaire, Texas.
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Most of the students who were enrolled had no prior experience learning Mandarin. Some students had not yet mastered English, and/or were learning Mandarin as a third language.
History
The school opened in the former Maud W. Gordon Elementary School. Before 2012 Gordon had no zoning boundary of its own and it drew excess students from apartments west of Bellaire, in Houston, to relieve other schools in Houston west of Bellaire such as Benavidez, Cunningham, Elrod, and Milne. From its opening to 1953 to 1983 Gordon served as a neighborhood school. After its closure Gordon temporarily housed the Post Oak School and later served as administrative offices. It re-opened as a relief school in 1988 for Elrod and Cunningham schools. It was scheduled to re-open in September 1988.
Harvin C. Moore, a HISD board member, took two education-related trips to China and visited a Chinese immersion program in San Diego, California. Since then he advocated for the creation of a Mandarin speaking magnet program.
In 2011 the HISD board approved the creation of a Mandarin Chinese-language immersion magnet school in the former Holden Elementary in the Houston Heights. As of January 2012, the plans changed, and now the school was to open in Bellaire.
In May 2012 the HISD board voted to spend $440,000 to renovate the Gordon campus. The school was scheduled to open in August 2012 with grades Kindergarten through 2. The first principal was Bryan Bordelon, previously a teacher at Scarborough High School.
The previous Gordon Elementary program was being phased out year by year.
The new campus for the Mandarin School was scheduled to open in August 2016.
Campus
The new campus is located adjacent to St. George Place Elementary School in St. George Place, Houston. The 118,000 square feet (11,000 m2) facility has a price tag of $32 million. The 2012 HISD Bond financed the construction. PBK Architects designed the building. Groundbreaking occurred on December 8, 2014.
The campus includes an auditorium with a stage, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and a technology and design laboratory. The campus uses a sun and moon theme, based on the Chinese character "Míng" (明), which incorporates the sun and the moon. A three-story area known as a "sun wing" houses academic areas while community functions are held in the "moon wing"; the school uses the former to represent energy while the later is meant to represent reflection and subtlety. The school's 3D printing and robotics facilities are located in the laboratory.
In order to facilitate the sounds of Mandarin, including its tones, the school installed a special sound system.
The school will share athletic fields and green areas with St. George Place Elementary.
Curriculum
The school uses a 50-50 immersion model. Half of the instruction is in Mandarin Chinese, provided by teachers who are native Mandarin speakers. The other half are from other teachers who reinforce the concepts that had been taught in Chinese in the English language. The core subjects, Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, and Social Science, are taught mostly in Mandarin. The school dedicates some of its instructional time to the development of English language skills. Each class has two teachers, with one speaking English and the other speaking Mandarin.
As of 2012 the school provides Rosetta Stone software for parents who wish to learn Chinese with their children.
Sister schools
MIMS has two sister schools: