At Northern Trails 5/6 School, students from three feeder elementary schools–Ada Vista, Collins and Meadow Brook–come together with their future graduating class.

Northern Trails is home to both the Chinese Immersion and Spanish Immersion programs, making it one of about 60 schools nationwide that host two language-learning programs. Chinese Immersion students achieve all of the Michigan grade-level standards and grow in their second-language competencies. 

Northern Trails Chinese Immersion students receive 110+ minutes of Mandarin instruction a day, focused on reading, writing, speaking, listening and writing characters. Science, social studies, language arts and mathematics are taught in English with Chinese minutes focused on Mandarin literacy.

Northern Trails proudly hosts a diverse student body with families fluent in more than 42 languages. The school’s entrance showcases students’ heritage with 51 flags representing the nations where Northern Trails students were born.

Bill Cataldo is the principal of Northern Trails. Zhao Laoshi and Du Laoshi are the 5th- and 6th-grade Chinese-language teachers.

5th Grade

Fifth-grade immersion students speak only Chinese while in the Chinese-language classroom. Students gain confidence through practice, and they focus on learning with a growth mindset while putting in their best effort.

The 5th-grade learning contents are adapted from the Chinese Language for Primary Schools ( 《小学华文》  ). Instruction covers eight core units with various topics related to students’ daily life along with reading/reading comprehension and writing skills. 

5th Grade Objectives

• Make connections between learned and new characters/words, be aware of the patterns, and find similarities and differences. Become familiar with the character structures and radicals, and follow stroke orders to form the characters.
• Expand vocabulary and improve Chinese character decoding skills through reading practice. 
• Understand the basic reading comprehension skills and practice them while reading.
• Acknowledge the basic Chinese grammar and tend to apply them in writing.
• Use Pinyin knowledge to improve typing skills in Chinese and follow the tone rules to improve pronunciation accuracy.
• Engage in performance and presentation activities to develop listening and speaking skills.

6th Grade

In 6th grade, students dive into phonetics, vocabulary and syntax through leveled independent reading, interactive read-aloud, writing workshop, culture-related projects and games. Students study how characters and new words are created so they have the skills to predict the meaning and pronunciation of a new character or word.

Homework expectations include practicing weekly vocabulary words for 20 minutes a night.

In the spring, families with 6th- through 8th-grade students are invited to attend informational meetings about the Northern High School/Western Michigan University dual enrollment program.

5/6 Chinese Immersion Resources

• Little Fox Chinese
• Chinese story Read Aloud 1
• Chinese story Read Aloud 2
• Graded Readers
• Online dictionary
• Chillchat Chinese Podcast

CHI-PAC Support

During the 2023-2024 school year, CHI-PAC facilitated a 7-week student-led mentorship program in which Northern High School students mentored 28 students from Meadow Brook Elementary and Northern Trails 5/6 School weekly via Zoom. The sessions provided younger students an opportunity to practice their Mandarin Chinese language skills and get to know high school role models further along in their language-learning journey.

Other CHI-PAC activities at the 5/6 level include:

• Facilitating a middle school introduction meeting
• Helping with Lunar New Year celebration events