Do Chinese parents apply to the Chinese immersion programs for their child?

[Anonymous]

Don't feed the troll. I said clearly I wanted to know why more Chinese parents are not using this way to keep the child's language. No need to argue with her.

[Anonymous]

I think sending kids to Chinese school on weekends (for reading and writing) and using the language at home (for speaking) are good enough if both parents are native speakers.

Also, chinese parents in general want their kids to be academically successful. They'd rather send the kids to good non-immersion schools.

[Anonymous]

Correction... if both or one of parents are native speakers. Or they live with granpa/granma.

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess the implied assumption is that the local elementary is better than the immersion program.

I was also intrigued by the research that Chinese is a better language in learning math. Does the weedend Chinese school have Math lessons ?

[Anonymous]

I would find some actual participants in the program to answer your question, OP.

it is my understanding that there are many kids in the program who speak Chinese at home.

This was the case in SP immersion too -- not a lot, but certainly 4 or 5 in my kids' classes who had at least one parent who was a native SP speaker.

[Anonymous]

What if they esl and don't speak english like the hispanics

[Anonymous]

Also the chinese will be our boss soon

[Anonymous]

We were in a similar situation -- but in our case it was deciding whether to send our child to a spanish immersion program. We are now several years into the program and haven't regretted our decision. Simply put, we wanted our child to attend the immersion program in order to help her become fluent in a language from our cultural background. Because we work full time, we have found the immersion program to work best because she is exposed to the language more hours of the day than we would be able to provide. We have found this consistent exposure to have helped her fluency. As a previous poster suggested, however, it would be helpful for you to speak with parents of some actual participants in the Chinese Immersion program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were in a similar situation -- but in our case it was deciding whether to send our child to a spanish immersion program. We are now several years into the program and haven't regretted our decision. Simply put, we wanted our child to attend the immersion program in order to help her become fluent in a language from our cultural background. Because we work full time, we have found the immersion program to work best because she is exposed to the language more hours of the day than we would be able to provide. We have found this consistent exposure to have helped her fluency. As a previous poster suggested, however, it would be helpful for you to speak with parents of some actual participants in the Chinese Immersion program.

Op here. Thank you for this feedback. I appreciate it.

There are multitudes of Chinese schools on the weekend. I just thought why not do it during regular school hours and free up the weekend for nonacademic stuff. Also immersion could be a challenge in itself and it could be good for a smart child.

I need to think about this more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were in a similar situation -- but in our case it was deciding whether to send our child to a spanish immersion program. We are now several years into the program and haven't regretted our decision. Simply put, we wanted our child to attend the immersion program in order to help her become fluent in a language from our cultural background. Because we work full time, we have found the immersion program to work best because she is exposed to the language more hours of the day than we would be able to provide. We have found this consistent exposure to have helped her fluency. As a previous poster suggested, however, it would be helpful for you to speak with parents of some actual participants in the Chinese Immersion program.

Op here. Thank you for this feedback. I appreciate it.

There are multitudes of Chinese schools on the weekend. I just thought why not do it during regular school hours and free up the weekend for nonacademic stuff. Also immersion could be a challenge in itself and it could be good for a smart child.

I need to think about this more.

It does free up your weekends for other activities. You can always try the immersion program (assuming your child is offered a spot) and if it doesn't work out they can just return to their home school mid-year, or for the following school year. Learning in a foreign language does add an extra level of challenge and helps prevent boredom in school if your child is bright and may already be reading and doing math above grade level.

[Anonymous]

Yes, at least at Potomac Elementary. The immersion program has so many heritage speakers that students who are not grumble about how hard it is to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they had Chinese immersion in arlington, I would do it

Why? Not a very useful language to know.

I'm Chinese. But...really?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they had Chinese immersion in arlington, I would do it

Why? Not a very useful language to know.

I'm Chinese. But...really?!?!

Ignore the troll. Probably some teenager.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP

My son attended French immersion and there were a number of Francophone families who enrolled their kids. They wanted to make sure that they got their reading and writing skills down pat, and figured that by middle school their kids would be doing half of their school work in English anyway, in addition to picking it up in their interactions in the community.

I think it's an excellent idea -- even more so for Mandarin than for French since the written characters are different and require separate, dedicated instruction time to learn.

And I bet your kids will appreciate the idea that weekends can be devoted to fun stuff! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks pp.

Writing in Chinese is indeed very difficult and most kids who only do weekend Chinese school cannot really write.