Burnt Mills Spanish immersion

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any information on the Burnt Mills ES immersion program? A friend's daughter got accepted, and he has to decide in the next few days. Her home school has similar demographics in terms of FARMS, but it gets bad reviews on this site. Burnt Mills test scores are great, but neither of us knows anyone who has sent their kids there. Any insights would be great.

[Anonymous]

Not PP, but bumping; my daughter just got offered a place in their Spanish immersion program. PP, did your friend end up accepting the spot?

[Anonymous]

No, they didn't accept the spot, but it was because of logisitcs or childcare, not because of anything learned about the school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

When was the deadline to accept a spot?

[Anonymous]

I don't know what the deadline was, but we got offered a spot last week, and we were #15 on the waitlist, if that helps.

[Anonymous]

Most kids in the Spanish immersion programs are from hispanic families and they speak Spanish at home. Even though immersion programs are meant for non-native speakers the programs are crammed full of them. Therefore the teachers tend to teach to the kids that already know the language. This is what I observed while visiting, talking with other parents and teachers, and finally, experienced in the immersion program we picked.

[Anonymous]

@9:30

This may be true for Burnt Mills. it isn't true for Rock Creek Forest. In a class of 25 kids, there may be two or three who have one parent who is a native Spanish speaker. At least in my kids' grades.

[Anonymous]

Like 14:12, I have not found that to be the case at Rolling Terrace's Spanish Immersion program. There are many children from Spanish speaking families at the school, but they tend not to be in the Immersion program. I would say that less than 20% of the kids in my son's class have a Spanish speaking parent. And, of those, I'm not sure any of them actually speak Spanish at home.

[Anonymous]

My daughter went to Rock Creek and is now at Westland Middle School. Most of the children in her class had one or both parents who spoke Spanish at home. I found it to be somewhat of a disadvantage but she worked through it and we are very happy that she has the second language.

[luv4life]

Any postive experiences with the Spanish Immersion program at Burnt Mills?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids in the Spanish immersion programs are from hispanic families and they speak Spanish at home. Even though immersion programs are meant for non-native speakers the programs are crammed full of them. Therefore the teachers tend to teach to the kids that already know the language. This is what I observed while visiting, talking with other parents and teachers, and finally, experienced in the immersion program we picked.

We have emphatically not found this to be true at Burnt Mills. I would estimate that maybe 25% of the kids have one parent who speaks Spanish, some as a native language, some as an second language. I've worked with the K teacher pretty closely this year due to some (child-related) issues and have found her to be approachable, kind, and very willing to help with all of my concerns.