ABSTRACT
Despite greater access to classroom Mandarin programs in the United States, access to meaningful interactions in the target culture outside of the classroom setting remains a challenge for non-heritage learners. At the Columbus School of Chinese (CSC), we developed our Local Immersion Program after the Performed Culture Approach (PCA) to provide such opportunities for our students, both locally in Columbus, Ohio, and in regional Chinese cultural environments. This chapter examines the challenges to accessing meaningful local immersion, introduces the pedagogical strategies we utilize to coach students through such interactions, and explores how these models can be replicated in a variety of locations for a variety of learners.
