Language Immersion Program Questions

[Anonymous]

Hello DCUM MoCo Parents! I am relocating to MoCo and have three children who are French fluent. I have some questions about language immersion. If you don’t have answers but have suggestions for where to go to find them, I’d love that feedback as well.

1) I am looking for SY23-24 and would have 2 in ES (3rd and 5th) and one entering MS (6th). I’m looking at Sligo and SSI because of where we plan to buy. What are the chances that if the kids pass a proficiency exam, they will be placed at those schools in immersion programs?

2) Does successful completion at Sligo guarantee admission to SSI for middle school?

3) If you have children at either school, how have you felt about the program respective to language outcomes, general academic outcomes, and diversity?

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

1) I am looking for SY23-24 and would have 2 in ES (3rd and 5th) and one entering MS (6th). I’m looking at Sligo and SSI because of where we plan to buy. What are the chances that if the kids pass a proficiency exam, they will be placed at those schools in immersion programs?

I think your chances are only okay for the 3rd grader but great for the 5th grader. The reason I say this is that some kids leave the program after 3rd for the Gifted and Talented magnet, opening up a handful of slots. That also seems to be the year that kids are counseled out back to their home schools if, for whatever reason, it seems the French immersion just isn't working.

2) Does successful completion at Sligo guarantee admission to SSI for middle school?

Yes. But note that SSMIS isn't full immersion.

3) If you have children at either school, how have you felt about the program respective to language outcomes, general academic outcomes, and diversity?

I've only experienced SCES but I think it's a real gem of a program. The kids are expected to speak French at all times, including on the playground and at lunch, and my English dominant child has become conversational enough to approach strangers speaking French while on vacation in Canada. Now, whether my child should be speaking to strangers is a different story, but they do.

Academic outcomes are good, as they offer differentiation in reading/writing as well as math.

Diversity is an interesting question at SCES. The school itself is diverse, but the FI program is substantially less so. Combined with the strong suggestion that kids speak French outside the classroom, it does create a bit of a divide in the school among the kids.

[Anonymous]

This is a helpful overview of the program:

[Anonymous]

Bonjour! We are a Franco-American family and my son just finished K in FI at SCES. He loves it. I think your kids would pass the entrance exam with no issue, but after that it would depend on how many families leave etc. But yes, you have a spot at SSIMS if you wish after that.

In terms of outcomes, my son understood French going in but didn’t speak much (normal for families who have lived here always). Now he speaks to me only in French, corrects his Dad’s French (Dad is from a third, non Francophone European country so we have a third language at home). Pour résumer, super satisfaite de son expérience et de ses progrès en français.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bonjour! We are a Franco-American family and my son just finished K in FI at SCES. He loves it. I think your kids would pass the entrance exam with no issue, but after that it would depend on how many families leave etc. But yes, you have a spot at SSIMS if you wish after that.

In terms of outcomes, my son understood French going in but didn’t speak much (normal for families who have lived here always). Now he speaks to me only in French, corrects his Dad’s French (Dad is from a third, non Francophone European country so we have a third language at home). Pour résumer, super satisfaite de son expérience et de ses progrès en français.

My uncle married a French woman. By early elementary school, neither of their kids would speak to her in French. The family packed up and moved in with her parents (south of France; neither of her parents spoke English) for a school year. Worked wonders! One of my cousins spent several years as a bike messenger in Paris. My uncle's French became almost passable.