Northern Hills Middle School Chinese Immersion students focus on oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary and listening comprehension. Seventh- and 8th-grade Chinese Immersion students use one of their two elective hours for Chinese class; they choose one other elective each semester.

As students prepare for middle school, it is important to understand the workload and expectations of what is involved for students to continue on their Chinese immersion journey in high school. The middle school years are essential to preparing our students to meet the admissions requirements and rigors of the Western Michigan University program at Northern High School. The 8th-grade Chinese class is especially important because students’ grades will be counted as high school credit and a factor in their acceptance into the Northern High School/WMU dual enrollment Chinese Immersion program. 

The 7th- and 8th-grade curriculum centers around four themes throughout the school year. The 7th-grade themes are education, food and health, family, and travel. The 8th-grade themes are after-school activities and clubs, community, movies and music, and technology.

Students’ effort and diligence in class work, and perseverance overcoming challenges is a foundation for their success in the Northern High School/WMU dual enrollment program.

Dr. David Simpson is the principal at Northern Hills Middle School. Wang Laoshi teaches 7th- and 8th-grade Chinese Immersion.

7th Grade Objectives

• Gain a deep understanding of Chinese language and culture through authentic literature and informational media.
• Acquire language through experiences with the 5 C’s of foreign language learning: communications, culture, comparisons, connections and community.
• Improve Chinese language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• Expand and reinforce vocabulary recognition through literature study (reading and writing).
• Engage in various discussions to improve higher order thinking skills and language skills.

8th Grade Objectives

• Review and implement the writing process through specific assignments and projects.
• Be active readers both inside and outside of the classroom through the study of a variety of literature including the short story, the novel, poetry, nonfiction, and myths and legends.
• Grammatical study emphasizing parts of speech, sentence structure and punctuation, with specific attention to reviewing areas of need that will be assessed through many speaking and writing activities.
• Practice creative and critical thinking through a variety of classroom activities including writing, analyzing, discussing, debating, role-playing and making group projects.
• Find the connection between the characters that students learned previously and new characters. 
• Infer the meaning of some new words according to the character or word knowledge they learned before.

Preparing for High School

Families with 6th- through 8th-grade students will be invited to attend informational meetings in the spring to learn more about the Northern High School/Western Michigan University dual enrollment program.

Application to this program is available only to Chinese Immersion students at Forest Hills Northern High School. Admission to the program is determined by the WMU Admissions Office based on the following requirements established by the WMU:

• High school GPA of at least 3.00. For incoming 9th-grade students, this GPA is taken from their 8th-grade Chinese Immersion class semester grades and other high school courses (i.e. algebra), if applicable.
• Qualifying score on the WMU Chinese language assessment.
• Permission from parent/guardian.

Once 8th-graders complete requirements for enrollment, families are invited to attend a WMU admission process meeting for step-by-step instructions on the enrollment process. This meeting is typically held in May.

CHI-PAC Support

CHI-PAC support at the middle-school level includes:

• Student appreciation donuts
• Lunar New Year fortune cookie making
• Hosting the WMU orientation and application meeting