Language Program - Language Program Details

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Language Program

Cultural Arts Program

Monday, June 8, 2026

Mandarin Classes

During the academic year, Rockville Chinese School offers classes on Sunday mornings, 10am - 12:30pm, at Winston Churchill High School, 11300 Gainsborough Road, Potomac, MD 20854. There are two semesters in a school year, with sixteen weeks in each semester. Fall semester usually begins after Labor Day weekend, while spring semester begins in late January or early February.

Language classes are taught by salaried instructors that are native mandarin speakers. Children can start as early as preschool (4 years old) and continue through 12th grade. Classes are available for children that already speak mandarin at home and those that come from non-mandarin speaking homes.

Our students have many opportunities to practice speaking mandarin, reading (pinyin and traditional characters), and writing in chinese (traditional form). Rockville Chinese School realizes the importance and value in exposing students to Chinese culture along side the language. During the school year, you may see students balancing chinese yo-yos, kicking around a chinese style hacky sack, singing well known chinese tunes, playing Simon Says in chinese, creating chinese art work, making pulp paper, performing a traditional chinese dance, and even beating on a chinese drum. In a typical lesson, 30 minutes is set aside for fun cultural activities like these. In addition, the school often celebrate major chinese holidays with stories, plays, and delicious food.

Please check out our calendar for future events.

Students enrolled in our morning language classes are encouraged to sign up for one or more of our Cultural Arts classes. Although enrollment in our Cultural Arts classes is optional, many students find that our Cultural Arts Classes enriches their lives and strengthens their connection to the school and fellow students.

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Registration Form - Language Classes

You can register yourself or your child as a student at Rockville Chinese School. We are currently accepting applications for Fall 2015-16. Please print out and fill in a registration form, and mail the form and your check to: Rockville Chinese School, c/o Ms. Fuqua, 1107 S. Quincy St., Apt. 102, Arlington, VA 22204.

To view and print out the registration form, please click here.

For more information...

Questions regarding our language classes can be directed to our Language School Principal.

Class/Level Placement

Which level is appropriate for your child?

The class placement of a new student will be determined by the registration office based on the several factors: age, previous mandarin learning experience, and mandarin speaking environment at home and in school.

To enroll in preschool classes, children must be 4 years old when fall classes start.
Four year old students typically start in Level 1 classes.
Five year old students with no previous mandarin exposure typically start in Level 1 classes.
Older students with no previous mandarin exposure will be placed in a class dependent on the comfort level and the language skill of the student.

Teaching Assistant

Preschool classes and classes with more than 12 students will have an assistant.

Expectations

All students are expected to follow teacher’s instructions, to respect others and to do homework. All parents are expected to work with the teacher to encourage and to help their student to learn in any way they can. All teachers are expected to conduct their classes in a professional way, and to work with parents to help support their child's language development.

We strive to balance a challenging academic program with enjoyable cultural experiences.

The textbooks are in traditional Chinese characters. Simplified Chinese characters are introduced in middle school classes.

There are weekly homework assignments, which may include CD listening, this is especially helpful to students from non-mandarin speaking families.

All students, Level 3 and up, are required to participate in the Speech Competition in the Fall, and Language Competition (Character/Phrases Recognition) in the Spring. These activities are designed to promote students’ presentation skills and to reinforce their Mandarin study.

Language classes will include about 8 hours of cultural activities each semester to introduce students to Chinese Cultural and Arts. Activities such as calligraphy, opera, dragon dance, drum, etc, may be incorporated in the program depending on student’s age and the availability of the instructors.

Quizzes, tests, midterm, finals, and/or evaluations will be given by teachers throughout the year.

All classes will perform in our in-school Chinese New Year celebration and Mother’s Day celebration.

At the end of the school year, awards in three categories will be presented:

Perfect Attendance: Students, Level 1 and up, who have perfect attendance throughout the whole year, without being late or leaving early more than twice.
Academic Advancement: Students, Level 3 and up, who demonstrate significant improvement in academic performance or in class/study behaviors.
Academic Excellence: Students, Level 3 and up, whose academic record rank the top third of the class.