chinese immersion in ES and chinese language in HS

[Anonymous]

14;21 poster here: I grew up with kid who were native Taiwanese, Chinese or HK-ese, and they all hated -- I mean HATED -- going to Chinese school on weekends. Ok, and all these kids also had native Ch-speaking parents at home! These kids, to ME, were all high-flyers, super-high achievers, etc. We were all in the same classes/same track in Ffx Cty public schools back in the day and are still friends today. But they all tell me today, "Oh, I was such a loser in Chinese school. B/c I hated it. I wanted to be American." So I (native US, with an adopted Chinese child now) am sooooooooooooooooooooooo torn as to what to do with my child now!!!!!!!!! Even my friends (the aforementioned native Ch, Taiwanese, or HKese US kids, aka my peers) cannot reallly advise me one way or another, b/c they too feel the emotional ties and pulls one way or another. AKA, help? Anyone? Any additional insights not mentioned here? (I guess, for the "adoption" point of view, I should give my child the option, and should he/she eventually choose to pursue it or reject it, at least it is her/her decision??)

[Anonymous]

00:08, PP here, I guess what I was trying to say was don't assume an asian face means native speaker. Immigrant kids and american born asian kids seem worlds away in fluency. In principle, I'd support differentiating them in the classroom. Hearing native speaking frequently has highly motivated my child to improve her conversational skills, so I don't know if I'd want to remove that exposure entirely.

14:21 - we had a good experience in the bilingual class at chinese school. They were non asian kids, adoptees, half chinese, or with chinese parents who spoke something other than mandarin. It went slower. For a lot of kids it's a huge pressure from their parents, it's every weekend, and a lot of extra homework. That's why long term we broke off into a small group class instead of joining the regular classes. I think the experience for kids without immigrant parents is a lot less miserable. My child is not an adoptee, but I know several. If it were my child I might not require years of language class if it wasn't her interest, but I'd want her to know some basics and have some ear for it in case she wanted to revisit it when she was older. As some of them are getting to the tween years there seems to be some origin angst emerging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are several years behind you, we live in Ffx Cty, but I am glad (?) to hear your perspective as we grapple with a similar (?) situation. We are the parents of an (adopted) Chinese daughter (age 4.5) and we are wondering about the efficacy of putting her in a Chinese language program. I just do not know how long and how effectively we can support her, however, w/o being practitioners of the language at home. I contemplate taking the language alongside her (this would be a Sat. Chinese school) but, honestly, I work FT so my weekend hours are precious to me and we feel like we are treading water just as it is. I am grateful to read your perspective as someone who is a few years ahead of us. I am leaning towards not doing the Chinese lessons, but will listen to others' opinions as well.

Ever think of getting a Mandarin-speaking au pair? We have a Cantonese-speaking one through the US au pair agency GoAuPair, whose HQ is in Utah. They recruit heavily from China, as does Au Pair in America. The agency and au pair have been great. Our kid is getting a few hours of Mandarin a day via the au pair - weekend langauge classes couldn't compete by a long shot. To host an au pair, you need a guest room, some time to help the girl get oriented in the first few months, and around $20,000 a year in spare change.

[Anonymous]

If you hold any sort of position in the govt or as a contractor for the govt be careful about taking on a communist chinese au pair. Ask yourself - would your parents have taken on an Au Pair with a t-shirt that read CCCP at the height of the cold war?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you hold any sort of position in the govt or as a contractor for the govt be careful about taking on a communist chinese au pair. Ask yourself - would your parents have taken on an Au Pair with a t-shirt that read CCCP at the height of the cold war?

Please don't drink and post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you hold any sort of position in the govt or as a contractor for the govt be careful about taking on a communist chinese au pair. Ask yourself - would your parents have taken on an Au Pair with a t-shirt that read CCCP at the height of the cold war?

Please don't drink and post.

No kidding! The Chinese are bigger capitalists than we are.

[Anonymous]

To the OP,
Please check out Potomac Chinese school based in Hoover ms in potomac. The classrooms are small. Many kids there attend Churchill hs cluster. I believe your kid can find someone she knew.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't imagine a college being upset that a child reached level 4 sophmore year and started on a new language for two more years verses just sticking with one language for all that time. In fact, depending on the major, they may really not care much about languages at all.

[Anonymous]

14:21 poster: you know, it really depends on your kid and your community. If there are other families with adoptees from China in your community, why not network and form Sunday Chinese School bonds with those people? Every child is different -- so just try to see what your child will want or need. And it doesn't have to be language, it could just be a Sunday dim sum date.

I am Chinese, I hated Chinese school because I was always the one they picked to speak at events and I was pressured to do everything. Looking back, my parents were really just trying to get me to try new things, to explore and learn and have fun, but that's hard to do when you're under the Tiger Mom microscope. But I think it depends on the kid and the program and what you make of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't imagine a college being upset that a child reached level 4 sophmore year and started on a new language for two more years verses just sticking with one language for all that time. In fact, depending on the major, they may really not care much about languages at all.

You are wrong. Colleges want to see at least 3 years of a language in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you hold any sort of position in the govt or as a contractor for the govt be careful about taking on a communist chinese au pair. Ask yourself - would your parents have taken on an Au Pair with a t-shirt that read CCCP at the height of the cold war?

Silly comment - the State Dept. sponsors the US Au Pair Program, farming out recruiting to a dozen domestic non-profit agencies. State standardizes rules governing the program, and program benefits, across agencies.

State has been issuing 2-year J-1 visas to Chinese au pairs since 2006. China now has one of the highest visa acceptance rates (90% plus of applicants interviewed at US embassies and consulates on the mainland) of the counties in the program, around 80. Several years ago, only a handful of au pair agencies recruited from China; now most do. We know members of the Senior Executive Service who've hosted Chinese au pairs for years. We haven't had any security clearance issues related to hosting Chinese au pairs (my spouse has a top secret clearance).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14;21 poster here: I grew up with kid who were native Taiwanese, Chinese or HK-ese, and they all hated -- I mean HATED -- going to Chinese school on weekends. Ok, and all these kids also had native Ch-speaking parents at home! These kids, to ME, were all high-flyers, super-high achievers, etc. We were all in the same classes/same track in Ffx Cty public schools back in the day and are still friends today. But they all tell me today, "Oh, I was such a loser in Chinese school. B/c I hated it. I wanted to be American." So I (native US, with an adopted Chinese child now) am sooooooooooooooooooooooo torn as to what to do with my child now!!!!!!!!! Even my friends (the aforementioned native Ch, Taiwanese, or HKese US kids, aka my peers) cannot reallly advise me one way or another, b/c they too feel the emotional ties and pulls one way or another. AKA, help? Anyone? Any additional insights not mentioned here? (I guess, for the "adoption" point of view, I should give my child the option, and should he/she eventually choose to pursue it or reject it, at least it is her/her decision??)

I'd find a nurturing heritage language classes catering to kids adopted from China - several good options in Rockville and a couple in Silver Spring, they start with playgroups at age 3 or 4. You want to be aware that 1st and 2nd generation immigrant kids may give yours some grief for being adopted and speaking Chinese like an American - as you probably know, adoption is just starting to gain wide acceptance in China/Chinese culture.

Our kid initially got some grief for being a biracial Cantonese speaker at a weekend school, but it faded away because her Cantonese is better than some of the immigrant kids' (my spouse, in-laws, our Cantonese-speaking au pairs and lots of cartoon DVDs see to that). We plan to start Mandarin in MS. My husband refused to attend Chinese school on weekends after age 10, in the late 70s, because he saw no point. He regrets it now because he can't read and write characters - says that although nobody could have predicted China's rise, he should have listened to his parents and stuck with it. They weren't hardcore Tiger parents and let him play sports instead. In this day and age, your kid is unlikely to ever hate weekend classes, or in-school classes or immersion, because of tremendous new momentum to learn Chinese. It's become hip. Hardly the case for an earlier generation of ABCs (American Born Chinese) and immigrant children.