How effective is Language Stars?

[Anonymous]

May I ask how a typical class looks like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who talks about fluency as a desired outcome? That is not the point. The question is: is it worth the money for a very ineffective program? Wat impact does it have on the future of my child? Are the few words that he remembers going to encourage him to speak that language in the future? Absolutely, not. Moreover, it can cause a mental block and he will be less likely to reach for any foreign language in the future. One of the most frustrating aspect in early childhood is inability to understand you. That goes to foreign language and for infants as well. It takes one class that your child is discouraged with and you may cause it to shut down.

The only positive way of language acquisition is consistent immersion. That can be parent, a family member, or a nanny that speaks to the child on daily basis , and must be ONLY in that particular language.

A child can sing or say things in any language if you teach him but with no understanding at all. That is not teaching a language.
This is not a sport of any kind that you can come once a week and learn a receipt for how to play it. Just think of your own native tounge. How did you learn it?
Again, your child may learn a few words, often with no understanding, but if you weight out the cost and sense of it, unless you really have no idea what to do with your excess money, you should consider a better option for more
promising enrichment program.

Uhhh...the OP did. Just trying to answer her question.

And, it seems, you did as well. No one is this bitter about a once-per-week program not delivering on fluency unless they expected it. Cheez. Just because you shopped poorly doesn't mean that others didn't but what they set out to.

[Anonymous]

*buy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:May I ask how a typical class looks like?

The entire class is essentially playtime. They move quickly from one activity to another so the kids don't get bored. The classes are themed and the activities will revolve around that. For example, the theme may be food, and the kids will play with toy food, learn the names of different foods, pretend to go shopping for the food, do some coloring on sheets with pictures of the food, cut out shapes of the food, etc. They also have a short snack time and learn how to ask for food and water. They'll play with one of those parachutes, sing and dance in the foreign language, etc.

[Anonymous]

We send our two boys, one in Spanish and French, and one in Spanish and Mandarin. It's worth the money for us because the boys love their teachers and the classes. Our oldest has been going for a while, but I notice that he has really improved since I've made more of an effort to reinforce (Spanish) at home. Playing at home with languages has also made him more excited to go. Classes move quickly, yet have a predictable rhythm. Activity, vocabularly, play, train, snack, play, art project, play, good-bye song. It seems to really work, but obviously they're not learning to read or write, because they can't read or write in any languge at this point.

[Anonymous]

We absolutely regret having spent this much on the classes as our twins didn't learn anything, but I understand that some kids may.
What I was offended by was one of the teachers whose attitude was just not what I expected.

[Anonymous]

Our experience has been extremely positive. Our boys (5 years old) absolutely LOVE going to Mandarin class twice a week at Language Stars. They look forward to it and we are very impressed with the program. Their understanding of language and passion for learning it has been exciting for us to watch. Obviously, they are not fluent yet, (that would not be a realistic expectation) however, I am quite certain they are on their way! LS provides a fun environment for the children to learn language and culture and that is key! The Mandarin Teachers at LS (McClean, VA) are terrific with engaging the children. I strongly disagree with some of the posts below and plan to continue to the Mandarin Program at LS. We encourage our boys to speak Mandarin and they have fun teaching my husband and me what they learned in class, they have been going since October 2012 and they can say full sentences, count to 30, know colors, many descriptive words and key phrases. Posted by - Amy C

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We absolutely regret having spent this much on the classes as our twins didn't learn anything, but I understand that some kids may.
What I was offended by was one of the teachers whose attitude was just not what I expected.

Are you a PP? Please tell us what alternate solution or program you found for your twins that blew you away? We all want to know.

[Anonymous]

My 4yo did a summer and a fall semester at LS Mclean also. DC is now enrolled in another school due to costs reasons. I can say for sure that DC exhibited more enthusiasm at LS vs the current "more regular classroom setting" school.

[Anonymous]

Any thoughts on how it is for a slightly older kid (6)?

[Anonymous]

BUMP for an older kid as well. Wonder what the class is like compared to the one for the younger kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on how it is for a slightly older kid (6)?

My older son (9) is in the French class for 8-10 year olds in the McLean office. He thought it was going to be babyish, but he absolutely loves it. I don't know everything about how the classes change with different age groups, but just looking in the classes (there are windows in all the rooms), you can see that the younger kids are doing lots of songs and being little kids! But the older kids have more competitive type games (I've seen hangman and some other word games done with teams) and my son has a workbook that they work on in class. There are 6 or 7 other boys in class, and they have so much fun and have become friends from the class. I'm fluent in French, and my son has become more interested and has improved a lot since we joined. It's a quality program and the teachers and director (in McLean, VA) are extremely professional. It is pricey, but it's better than other programs (my son went to Alliance Francaise for a while and hated it!)

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Only Alliance Francaise if you want him to learn.
A 9 year old will not benefit from LS or Communikids. Trust me--waste of money. My daughter is turning 10 and we tried them all since she was 8 and there is no better place than AF. There is actual learning
going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only Alliance Francaise if you want him to learn.
A 9 year old will not benefit from LS or Communikids. Trust me--waste of money. My daughter is turning 10 and we tried them all since she was 8 and there is no better place than AF. There is actual learning
going on.

Is she fluent yet?

[Anonymous]

LOL. 09:58 and 10:15 have opposite experiences.

09:58, thanks for the details. That helps.

10:15, how bout some details as oppose to "trust me" and " there is actual learning going on"