Bilingual Kids in Language Immersion ES Programs, Which Programs Have Many & Strive to Attract Them?

[Anonymous]

These posts are good reminder at how lucky we were to make it through the MV lottery, thereby avoiding both our shitty IB school and Mickey Mouse YY. Our Chinese laundromat guy around the corner tells me that YY isn't for Cantonese-speaing kids like his. Lots of MV kids really do speak Spanish at home, nothing but.

[Anonymous]

11:54, you are unlikely to get solid information about how many Chinese students at Yu Ying because it is the type of information sharing that could only cause trouble. Too few ethnic children, concerns from prospective parents like you. Too many ethnic children and accusations about cherry picking.

I'd dispute there are only a dozen ethnic or "half-ethnic" chinese in the school. There are several in each grade.

Keep in mind that Yu Ying is not a "Chinese school" but a bilingual public charter school. It functions within the DC public charter school system. Translation -- most type A parents with a strong interest in Chinese will be happy here. Those parents who want an especially "creative and nurturing" environment for their kids might best consider other options, as should those with no particular interest in Chinese.

And parents who want a true "Chinese" education for their youngsters send them to live with the grandparents in China.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These posts are good reminder at how lucky we were to make it through the MV lottery, thereby avoiding both our shitty IB school and Mickey Mouse YY. Our Chinese laundromat guy around the corner tells me that YY isn't for Cantonese-speaing kids like his. Lots of MV kids really do speak Spanish at home, nothing but.

You're welcome for giving you the hope of a good MS/HS.

--Micky Mouse Yu Ying

[Anonymous]

At the charter expo I specifically asked if there was preference for native speakers. I was told no, but was perplexed that they still have 40% native speakers in their in coming classes.

[Anonymous]

^ Yea, there's one or two. We used to translate for them a bit at YY. What a relief to have landed at our JKLM school. If you're serious about raising your kids bilingual in a dialect, then adding Mandarin, YY is really unlikely to be your scene. OP, if you want my advice, ignore YY. You can't change what they're doing but can raise your blood pressure mulling it over. Join us in MoCo at one of the welcoming Cantonese schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These posts are good reminder at how lucky we were to make it through the MV lottery, thereby avoiding both our shitty IB school and Mickey Mouse YY. Our Chinese laundromat guy around the corner tells me that YY isn't for Cantonese-speaing kids like his. Lots of MV kids really do speak Spanish at home, nothing but.

Will your MV child attend the middle/high school which is spearheaded by the Mickey mouse YY?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd dispute there are only a dozen ethnic or "half-ethnic" chinese in the school. There are several in each grade.

Read carefully. OP does not dispute that there are more than a dozen ethnic Chinese kids, and half-ethnic Chinese, in the school. S/he just isn't convinced that most of these kids are being raised bilingual, like his/hers and many at the Spanish immersion schools. The issue is much more bilingualism and degree of assimilation than ethnicity. Public Chinese immersion schools around the country get it, the DC charter Spanish immersion programs get it, YY doesn't.

Cherry pick away on language DC Charter to support the mission of the immersion schools. Thank you Tyler principal for joining the rational chorus.

[Anonymous]

Come on people, it's easy to find Spanish speaking families in DC. It is not so easy to find Mandarin speaking families in DC. Lamb use to cheat and run separate lotteries. I wonder if their numbers will remain 50-50 now that they must use one lottery and any and everyone can apply.

Oyster is run by DCPS and they have different rules. We will see how far the Latino families will travel across town to Tyler, when there is Lamb, CHEC, DC Bilingual, and Cleveland in their front and backyards.

[Anonymous]

Will your MV child attend the middle/high school which is spearheaded by the Mickey mouse YY?

Nope. Where the Tiger and Jewish mothers go, I follow. The YY parents I meet are PC bullies. MoCo and immersion summer camps for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: OP, if you want my advice, ignore YY. You can't change what they're doing but can raise your blood pressure mulling it over. Join us in MoCo at one of the welcoming Cantonese schools.

Sound advice. Fitting in at YY is a tough row to hoe for dialect speakers raising little dialect speakers. I grew to dislike YY events where I'd invariably be put on the spot to explain holiday traditions etc. to parents who weren't aware that Cantonese is a southern Chinese dialect before I told them. Lots of these at YY. And I grew to dislike the profoundly American principal; no dislike is too tame a word. So I'll settle for MS and HS Mandarin in MoCo with a strong Cantonese accent for DC. There aren't nearly enough of us in the District OP to change this calculus. Maybe if we'd been involved from the get go, but we weren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is inventing a false "spectrum" because all admissions to charter schools in DC are by lottery only. Anyone can apply, anyone can get in.

Now some "ethnic" parents might choose a school that teaches a language that reflects their own heritage, that is true. But that doesn't mean other families aren't choosing the same school for different reasons.

Regarding Yu Ying and ethnic Chinese parents - OP again is spewing nonsense. Lots of ethnic Chinese do attend Yu Ying, and lots more pfamilies that have one spouse Chinese or adopted a Chinese daughter. Lots of us have gotten together this very weekend, in fact...

Yeah, we really enjoyed last night and today! We love YY. Our child is biracial, Asian/White, and we love the school. The Chinese parents at YY are well assimilated and educated professionals. We would not feel at home in an ethnic enclave anyway... Love the diversity and the school.

[Anonymous]

Only one key difference between YY and the other language immersion schools. YY substitutes "community of people somewhat connected to the language and culture" (maybe 40% of parents) for "native-speaking community."

At YY, it's enough to have adopted a child from China, or to have worked in a Chinese-speaking country, or to have studied Mandarin, to be considered part of the community with an inside track to the language and culture. The other schools look for a stronger connection to be on the track. If you don't mind that there's no local Chinese community behind the school, go for it.

Not a bad school, you just want to go in with your eyes open, wherever you're coming from...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only one key difference between YY and the other language immersion schools. YY substitutes "community of people somewhat connected to the language and culture" (maybe 40% of parents) for "native-speaking community."

At YY, it's enough to have adopted a child from China, or to have worked in a Chinese-speaking country, or to have studied Mandarin, to be considered part of the community with an inside track to the language and culture. The other schools look for a stronger connection to be on the track. If you don't mind that there's no local Chinese community behind the school, go for it.

Not a bad school, you just want to go in with your eyes open, wherever you're coming from...

No they don't, the other charters run a lottery just like YY but b/c there is a large native speaking Spanish population living in DC, they get a sizable population of bilingual kids into their schools. DC has less than 1% Chinese, most don't speak Mandarin, thus YY's demographic.

[Anonymous]

I'm a YY parent who doesn't appreciate all the bashing on DCUM. That said, 19:30's point about there being no native-speaking community behind the school is fair. Those who come looking for such a community will only be disappointed, and those who try to invent it defensively will seem foolish.

That said, parents who attribute the low percentage of native speakers in the school--let's face it, there are very few--to the very low percentage of bilingual kids in the District aren't being entirely honest.

The truth is that YY does a poor job of drawing in bilingual parents, partly by rejecting the concept of what other immersion Chinese ES programs term "dialect transition support." Treating kids who speak a dialect just like kids who speak no Chinese in the curriculum actively alienates native speakers, or so my native-speaking neighbors in Upper NW tell me. There is very little evidence that YY has ever been serious about building on local dialect knowledge to advance Mandarin learning and that's too bad. The single lottery and small size of the ethnic Chinese population is perhaps half the problem. The negative attitude toward including many bilingual American-Born Chinese children on the part of DC Charter, administrators and, yes, PA parents is the other half.

If I were ethnic Chinese, bilingual and raising my children to speak a dialect, I'd stay away myself if I had a decent IB school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a YY parent who doesn't appreciate all the bashing on DCUM. That said, 19:30's point about there being no native-speaking community behind the school is fair. Those who come looking for such a community will only be disappointed, and those who try to invent it defensively will seem foolish.

That said, parents who attribute the low percentage of native speakers in the school--let's face it, there are very few--to the very low percentage of bilingual kids in the District aren't being entirely honest.

The truth is that YY does a poor job of drawing in bilingual parents, partly by rejecting the concept of what other immersion Chinese ES programs term "dialect transition support." Treating kids who speak a dialect just like kids who speak no Chinese in the curriculum actively alienates native speakers, or so my native-speaking neighbors in Upper NW tell me. There is very little evidence that YY has ever been serious about building on local dialect knowledge to advance Mandarin learning and that's too bad. The single lottery and small size of the ethnic Chinese population is perhaps half the problem. The negative attitude toward including many bilingual American-Born Chinese children on the part of DC Charter, administrators and, yes, PA parents is the other half.

If I were ethnic Chinese, bilingual and raising my children to speak a dialect, I'd stay away myself if I had a decent IB school.

I disagree the small number of Chinese in DC is 1/2 the problem in attracting bilingual speakers whether they speak a dialect or not. It's ALL of the problem. YY resources are not worth using in attracting this population when there are so few and there cannot be any preferences given in the lottery. The school knows this and is putting more resources toward mainland China, finding a sister school, having student exchanges, etc.

Yu Ying for better or for worse is a Chinese school for non-Chinese... And some of us like it that way... Even if we are Chinese.