Our Curriculum

Our curriculum, developed in consultation with the University of Minnesota and the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C., ensures the most effective research-based immersion education available.

Core Knowledge Sequence
This curriculum covers history and science and analyzes the work of leaders, great thinkers, and important artists from all backgrounds. The concept behind the Core Knowledge Sequence is that there is a set of knowledge and information that educated Americans typically know and that this set of knowledge and information should form the core of the elementary school curriculum.  Another key concept of the Core Knowledge Sequence is that students should learn this knowledge and information in a systematic and sequential way during their elementary school years.  The Core Knowledge Sequence provides a clear content outline, in which each grade builds upon and adds to the knowledge learned in the past year's lessons so that the students are exposed to more in-depth knowledge and information each year.  Sequential knowledge building helps eliminate learning gaps and allows for the most effective use of students' and teachers' school time.

Singapore Math
Singapore Math is an internationally-recognized, highly successful applied mathematics curriculum. Singapore Math is best known for its ability to help students understand the "why" behind math concepts by teaching mathematical concepts from concrete through pictorial to abstract. Singapore Math employs systematic use of word problems as the way of building the semantics of mathematical operations, which teaches students to conceptually understand a problem instead of relying on "clue" words.

English Language Arts
Instruction in English Language Arts includes a balanced literacy approach by combining phonics and skill based instruction with a reading curriculum such as Reading for Mastery, along with guided literature circles and trade book reading activities.

Character Education Plan
"Teach. Respect. Be Safe. Be Peaceful." Instruction is infused with respect, ethics, peacemaking and conflict resolution. In order to fully develop and instill community awareness and character in the students of Yinghua Academy, we developed a Character Education Plan to teach students about life and ethics as a part of daily lessons. Character development is integrated into all aspects of life at Yinghua Academy.

Cultural Curriculum
Our culture curriculum prepares children to participate in a global community. The curriculum has been developed with the goal of helping our student to understand the people, customs, history and heritage of China and other world cultures. Our culture curriculum includes school and classroom activities as well as community participation and field trips.

Fine Arts and Physical Education
Our program provides physical education as well as art and music in partnership in the school as well as with organizations such as the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Children's Theatre, Science Museum, Young Audiences, Northern Clay Center, Vocal Essence and other leaders in the fine arts community.

Middle School Program (Still in Development) Yinghua Acadeny won a $811,765 FLAP grant to develop a middle school program. The press release with details about the new program can be found --> here. This grant will support the development of two different middle school curricular tracks. One will be for the continuing, immersion students and the other will be for new students entering middle school at Yinghua Academy. The incoming students will receive Chinese as a foreign language while the majority of their school day is in English. The ongoing immersion students will further develop their langauge learning at appropriate levels, which will include some core subjects taught in Chinese. Both programs will offer an increased use of technology to do research and communicate with peers around the world. The middle school program will continue the school's focus on rigorous academics, particularly in math and science, with the overall goal of developing students into global citizens, complete with bilingual ability in Chinese, critical thinking and 21st century skills.

• Kindergarten and 1st grade – Full immersion in Mandarin Chinese;
  
  
• 2nd and 3rd grade – Full immersion in Mandarin Chinese + 45-60 minutes of English Language Arts every day;
  
  
• 4th grade – Full immersion in Madarin Chinese + 45 minutes of English Language Arts every day + 40 minutes of Social Studies taught in English;
  
  
• 5th and 6th grade – Academic content taught primarily in English + 45-60 minutes every day of instruction in the Mandarin Chinese language;
  
  
• A wide range of Chinese cultural experiences for all students.