immersion preschool for first school experience - good idea?

[Anonymous]

I'm considering sending my child to a full immersion preschool (no English) in the fall. Due to covid, this will be his first school experience - he has been cared for at home by a nanny during the day since I went back to work after maternity leave, and has only had experience with English. Will it be stressful for a 2 year old to adapt to a school environment AND be somewhere where everyone is suddenly speaking a different language? He is very verbal and loves to talk so I am worried about him being frustrated/not liking school. Surely with all the immersion preschools around here this situation is not unique - can any parents weigh in on how their child adapted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm considering sending my child to a full immersion preschool (no English) in the fall. Due to covid, this will be his first school experience - he has been cared for at home by a nanny during the day since I went back to work after maternity leave, and has only had experience with English. Will it be stressful for a 2 year old to adapt to a school environment AND be somewhere where everyone is suddenly speaking a different language? He is very verbal and loves to talk so I am worried about him being frustrated/not liking school. Surely with all the immersion preschools around here this situation is not unique - can any parents weigh in on how their child adapted?

This is not a good idea. The child is too young.

[Anonymous]

I know someone who did it at 3. There was definitely a transition period but the kid learned French very quickly. Mom also spoke it fluently.

[Anonymous]

Does he have any anxiety around speaking? Does he talk in all settings and with different people? If not I think it's less likely to be a problem. If he clams up around new people I would be concerned about immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm considering sending my child to a full immersion preschool (no English) in the fall. Due to covid, this will be his first school experience - he has been cared for at home by a nanny during the day since I went back to work after maternity leave, and has only had experience with English. Will it be stressful for a 2 year old to adapt to a school environment AND be somewhere where everyone is suddenly speaking a different language? He is very verbal and loves to talk so I am worried about him being frustrated/not liking school. Surely with all the immersion preschools around here this situation is not unique - can any parents weigh in on how their child adapted?

This is not a good idea. The child is too young.

Too young? Young children pick up languages more quickly than older ones. We had both our kids at a Spanish immersion daycare from 3 months old. One left at 2 before she really had much in the way of verbal skills but my oldest was there until he was almost 4 and was fairly fluent. The problem was that we moved to a non-immersion preschool/ES after that so they lost their Spanish within a few months.

[Anonymous]

I think it will be fine. The school is used to it, I am sure, and the providers know English, so they ca respond to your son’s stated needs so he can communicate.

Immigrant kids do this all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be fine. The school is used to it, I am sure, and the providers know English, so they ca respond to your son’s stated needs so he can communicate.

Immigrant kids do this all the time.

And some of them do better with it than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be fine. The school is used to it, I am sure, and the providers know English, so they ca respond to your son’s stated needs so he can communicate.

Immigrant kids do this all the time.

And some of them do better with it than others.

That’s true of literally everything, including preschool itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it will be fine. The school is used to it, I am sure, and the providers know English, so they ca respond to your son’s stated needs so he can communicate.

Immigrant kids do this all the time.

And some of them do better with it than others.

That’s true of literally everything, including preschool itself.

Yes, and that is why it is a fair question to ask if immersion is right for any given child. Saying "immigrant kids do this all the time" is stereotyping and ignorant.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t. Kids are still developing/mastering English at that point.

[Anonymous]

What is the ratio of NT to SN kids? And genders?

My neighbor did this...definitely know your kid. Some kids don't do well bc it's hard to play with a fellow classmate who constantly throws things across the room, or interact with someone who has selective mutuism, etc. Yes, there are teachers (ask for the ratio) who intervene and help guide, but some NT kids just want to have an uninterrupted storytime , for example.
If your kid is fairly laid back and easy going, great. If your kid is eager to learn and play and thrives on challenges, then they're not going to get that (individual) attention bc the focus is peer modeling and helping/mainstreaming those kids with emotional and mental barriers.

Are you the Seattle poster by chance?
If so, peer modeling preschool can vary widely throughout so definitely schedule a tour, ask about ratios, ask about examples, what are the expectations, etc.

[Anonymous]

We are foreign service so people in our line of work do this every day with local preschools in whatever assigned country. Most report a rough transition for the first 6 months then everything smooths over. We sent our daughter to a school that was 50/50 English/Spanish and she did take about 6 months to adjust. She was very quiet before then but she has acquired quite a bit of the local language and she loves going to school now. I would recommend it again; learning a second language at an early age is such a gift.

[Anonymous]

Unless you plan on continuing immersion, there’s not much point. But there is no risk to language development etc. There are millions of multilingual kids, it’s false that learning more than one language at a time leads to speech or comprehension delays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are foreign service so people in our line of work do this every day with local preschools in whatever assigned country. Most report a rough transition for the first 6 months then everything smooths over. We sent our daughter to a school that was 50/50 English/Spanish and she did take about 6 months to adjust. She was very quiet before then but she has acquired quite a bit of the local language and she loves going to school now. I would recommend it again; learning a second language at an early age is such a gift.

As one of these children I object to the idea of this being a "gift" you give your child. Your child WORKED to learn that language. She's the one that did it. It was difficult for her and not always a happy time. It sounds like it was worth it and that's great but don't diminish her role in the learning process.

[Anonymous]

which daycares/pre schools around EOTP / tk pk are immersion ?