About East Voyager Academy
NC Tuition-Free Charter School
East Voyager Academy, North Carolina’s first Mandarin immersion charter school, is located in the beautiful city of Charlotte. EVA opened its doors on August 27, 2018, for its inaugural school year.
Our 75/25 language immersion program requires students in Kindergarten- 4th grade to be instructed in Chinese for 75% of the day. Classes for 5th grade and up follow a 50/50 model that allows for 50% of instruction to be delivered in Mandarin. Maintaining high academic requirements, our curriculum is aligned with the NC Standards. Our unique language immersion structure also allows us to be flexible enough to implement innovative educational theories.
At EVA, qualified, native Mandarin teachers deliver curriculum instruction in Mandarin using NC state-adopted, standards-aligned textbooks. Math, Science, and Social Studies are all taught in Mandarin. Other courses, such as Physical Education, Music, Dance, Theatre, and Art are also taught in Mandarin.
Native English speakers head up our English Language Arts department. These NC-certified teachers offer intense instruction using best practices. English Language Arts accounts for approximately 25% of the school day for lower grades and 50% of the school day for upper grades.
EVA students learn cultural awareness as they are introduced to the customs and experiences of their teachers. Students also celebrate both American and Chinese holidays, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year.
Why It Works
Language immersion is a highly researched educational model in which part of a school’s curriculum is taught in a foreign language. Students in these programs achieve high levels of foreign language proficiency in addition to high overall academic performance.
Researchers now have evidence that people who learn another language, develop cognitive advantages that improve their attention, self-control, and ability to deal with contradictory information.
Scientists believe that the study of Mandarin uses both temporal lobes of the brain, versus just the left lobe in English speakers, and that learning to write Chinese characters helps the brain to develop spatial memory and math skills. There is even evidence to suggest that bilingual brains stay healthier longer than non-bilingual brains. Learning Mandarin isn’t just good for your brain, it also has important societal and professional merit. Mandarin is spoken by one-fifth of the planet, over 1.2 billion people. China is the second-largest economy in the world and one of America’s biggest trading partners. In addition, South Carolina is home to many Chinese-based company headquarters.