Foreign languages

[Anonymous]

We just moved here and will have a kindergartener in fall 2023. I’m disappointed to see it looks like foreign languages aren’t a thing in the elementary schools. Does anyone know if there’s been any effort to change that? My kids will attend ESS.

Just seems a shame since we’ve known for so long that younger is better for foreign language introduction. I’m not looking for an immersion school; I’d just love some introduction to something.

[Anonymous]

Mcps immersion has partial programs. Though what’s wrong with full immersion? It’s a great program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mcps immersion has partial programs. Though what’s wrong with full immersion? It’s a great program

Nothing, I just wasn’t necessarily looking to switch to something other than our neighborhood school. But I haven’t looked into that really so maybe I should.

[Anonymous]

Yes, public school is nowhere near perfect. MCPS is great for a taxpayer-funded system. It's even better than a lot of privates.

But it's backward on early foreign language instruction and backward on phonics-based reading instruction (still not happening).

So if you feel strongly about it, pay for private lessons. Since we're a bilingual family, we enroll our kids in a weekend school for that language. There are weekend schools for French, German, Japanese, Spanish and many others. Most of them were created for native speakers, but some also have beginner classes for non-native speakers. The advantage of these is that they are culturally immersive for that country, since most of the families have a connection to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, public school is nowhere near perfect. MCPS is great for a taxpayer-funded system. It's even better than a lot of privates.

But it's backward on early foreign language instruction and backward on phonics-based reading instruction (still not happening).

So if you feel strongly about it, pay for private lessons. Since we're a bilingual family, we enroll our kids in a weekend school for that language. There are weekend schools for French, German, Japanese, Spanish and many others. Most of them were created for native speakers, but some also have beginner classes for non-native speakers. The advantage of these is that they are culturally immersive for that country, since most of the families have a connection to it.

Totally. That’s a great idea.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and also thanks for pointing out the lag in phonics based reading instruction. Good to be prepared for that in any case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps immersion has partial programs. Though what’s wrong with full immersion? It’s a great program

Nothing, I just wasn’t necessarily looking to switch to something other than our neighborhood school. But I haven’t looked into that really so maybe I should.

No harm in entering the language immersion lottery for all the programs you are eligible for, seeing where you get a spot or low waitlist number, and then making a decision. There is more demand than spaces available, unless your homeschool is a bilingual school (e.g. Oakland Terrace).

[Anonymous]

I enroll my kid at weekend language school for 1 hour weekly. They look miserable and don't understand at all, but I believe they will thank me when they are a lot older. Immersion school is too extreme for us because I & DH are not native speaker of that language, and I don't think it is a good fit and we want to go to local school.