Chinese DLI FAQ

The best way to help your students at home is to make them feel Chinese is fun to learn.

As parents, you should always encourage your students to try to use the language after class and praise them whenever you can. You can also take your students to participate in cultural events at holidays.

Besides everything mentioned above, parents should also encourage students to complete Chinese homework weekly. The homework is well designed by teachers for students to practice in-class contents of multiple subjects at home."

Click here for more suggestions.

There is no test for students who would like to enroll in the Chinese DLI program in 1st Grade.

However, Chinese is a difficult language to learn and can be challenging to students; both students and parents need to understand that this program requires more effort after class.

If your students are in 1st or 2nd Grade, you can transfer your students to the Chinese DLI program without a language test. However, we don’t recommend that you transfer your students to the DLI program in 2nd Grade, because students are one year behind in language skills and can be overwhelmed when they join the program.

Starting 3rd Grade, students who plan to transfer to the Chinese DLI program from other schools or other language classes need to pass a language test before they can enroll in the DLI program.

Renaissance Academy follows Utah DLI Proficiency Targets to prepare students’ language skills. Students participate in the state required AAPPL language proficiency test from 3rd Grade to 9th Grade every school year in fall to measure the progress.

Click here to check the Utah Chinese DLI proficiency targets of each grade level.

High School Pathways

There are different pathways for Chinese DLI students to keep learning Chinese after they graduate from Renaissance Academy.

Option 1

If students pass the AP Chinese exam in 9th grade, when they go to high school, they can enroll in the Bridge Program to start college level courses and earn college credits. Students will receive up to 9 college credits in high school by attending the Bridge Program. By far, there are 6 universities in Utah that collaborate with the Bridge Program and accept the credits, they are Dixie State University, Southern Utah University, Utah Valley University, University of Utah, Weber State University, and Utah State University. BYU collaborates with the Bridge Program in a different way.

Option 2

If students don’t pass the AP Chinese exam in 9th grade, they can go to Chinese AP classes in high school. Students can take the AP Chinese test again in 10th-11th grade and enroll in the Bridge Program after they pass the exam. They can also take the AP Chinese test in 12th grade, but in this case they will not be able to enroll in the Bridge program to earn college credits. 

Option 3

For students who are not planning on taking the AP Chinese test,  they can still stay in the Dual Language Immersion program in high school. Starting 2023-2024 school year, Utah DLI program will start offering DLI6, DLI7 and DLI8 courses. Please check with the local high schools to confirm.