If your child goes to weekend language schools of your heritage (Chinese, Korean, etc.)

[Anonymous]

You have to force her to respond in your native language otherwise it's a waste of time and money, and she won't get the feedback she needs. Also get her books, movies and songs in that language, buy her toys and cute stuff from that country, make her favorite dishes from that cuisine, integrate it completely in your life.

Can you do playdates with other children from that class? Can you invest in a vacation in your home country, to show her how people live there?

It's difficult, I know.
It's been really hard for the children to respond in our native language, especially since school has started again. This year I have decided to stand firm, because other parents with older children have guaranteed that this is the ONLY way a child can truly progress. We also have a hard time doing playdates or even talking to other adults, because everyone is so busy with other things, but occasionally it works out.
This summer I insisted that the kids only read in our native language, and they made great strides - they were happy at their own progress, which is the best motivator!

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I have different expectations than some of the other posters. My kid is not going to gain language proficiency, let alone fluency, by going to Korean school for 3 hours a week 9 months of the year, when the only Korean he gets during the rest of the week is a few basic phrases ("Wash your hands," "Brush your teeth," "I love you," etc.). We send him because we live in an area without many Koreans, and he's one of the few Asian kids in his entire school. Being the only (or one of few) ___ of any kind takes a toll on the psyche, and I think the detrimental effect of always feeling different from everyone else often isn't noticeable until many years later. Honestly, I just want my son to grow up experiencing on a somewhat regular basis what it's like not to different from everyone else, even for just a few hours a week.

That said, it helps that they seem to somehow make it fun, and he's made friends that he looks forward to seeing once a week. And if I get a Mother's Day card written in Korean out of it, then that's just icing on the top!

What program do you send your son to? This is exactly the level of expectation I have for when my DS is old enough to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess I have different expectations than some of the other posters. My kid is not going to gain language proficiency, let alone fluency, by going to Korean school for 3 hours a week 9 months of the year, when the only Korean he gets during the rest of the week is a few basic phrases ("Wash your hands," "Brush your teeth," "I love you," etc.). We send him because we live in an area without many Koreans, and he's one of the few Asian kids in his entire school. Being the only (or one of few) ___ of any kind takes a toll on the psyche, and I think the detrimental effect of always feeling different from everyone else often isn't noticeable until many years later. Honestly, I just want my son to grow up experiencing on a somewhat regular basis what it's like not to different from everyone else, even for just a few hours a week.

That said, it helps that they seem to somehow make it fun, and he's made friends that he looks forward to seeing once a week. And if I get a Mother's Day card written in Korean out of it, then that's just icing on the top!

What program do you send your son to? This is exactly the level of expectation I have for when my DS is old enough to attend.

We go to the United Korean School of Greater Washington: http://kaef.unitedkoreanschool.org/ They have campuses in McLean and Rockville; we go to the McLean one, which I hear has more students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on the language.

DS, in 4th, has also been going to language school since K. While he doesn't complain or cry, he has said he is not happy he has had to give up other activities for it. However, he knows going is not a choice and we will continue to have him go there until middle school.

Like your DD, he doesn't have friends or access to a larger community of people who share the same heritage/language.

Of the two languages you mentioned I think it's interesting you picked one language with a very large community in our area and one that is less large.

If the language you are talking about is Chinese there is a huge Chinese community in the area and there are activities full of Chinese kids. If your child hates the school so much there are many alternate activities where your child could find Chinese friends.

It's not the same for children of Korean heritage (unless you are in some parts of Nova) and our situation is kinds of similar to that (think something like Dutch, Indonesian, Greek). The weekend school is literally the only option.

Are you kidding? Pretty sure that the Korean population in DC, MD, and VA are almost as big as the Chinese population. Nothing like the Dutch, Indonesia, Greek.

The Korean population is NOWHERE near as large as the Chinese population but probably not as small as the Dutch and Indonesian. Don't know about Greek. There are a lot of Greek communities close to where we live.

I can't believe I'm still arguing about this, but really? According to the 2010 census, the Chinese population was about 106,000, and the Korean population was about 97,000 for DC, MD, and VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on the language.

DS, in 4th, has also been going to language school since K. While he doesn't complain or cry, he has said he is not happy he has had to give up other activities for it. However, he knows going is not a choice and we will continue to have him go there until middle school.

Like your DD, he doesn't have friends or access to a larger community of people who share the same heritage/language.

Of the two languages you mentioned I think it's interesting you picked one language with a very large community in our area and one that is less large.

If the language you are talking about is Chinese there is a huge Chinese community in the area and there are activities full of Chinese kids. If your child hates the school so much there are many alternate activities where your child could find Chinese friends.

It's not the same for children of Korean heritage (unless you are in some parts of Nova) and our situation is kinds of similar to that (think something like Dutch, Indonesian, Greek). The weekend school is literally the only option.

Are you kidding? Pretty sure that the Korean population in DC, MD, and VA are almost as big as the Chinese population. Nothing like the Dutch, Indonesia, Greek.

The Korean population is NOWHERE near as large as the Chinese population but probably not as small as the Dutch and Indonesian. Don't know about Greek. There are a lot of Greek communities close to where we live.

I can't believe I'm still arguing about this, but really? According to the 2010 census, the Chinese population was about 106,000, and the Korean population was about 97,000 for DC, MD, and VA.

I can only guess this person lives in Rockville and has never crossed the river = has no idea the Chinese:Korean ratio is very different in nova

[Anonymous]

I am not sure if you only asked for input from the Asian families so if the following is not relevant to you, feel free to dismiss.

We are a two-immigrant family and we are raising our children to be fluent in both languages. On my end, DS, who is now 7, has attended mostly immersion Russian-language preschools where he got to fluent conversation, solid reading and some writing. I only speak Russian to him at home but this is changing as his schooling becomes more demanding. At this time, my take on this is that language learning has to have relevance and context to children to be truly appealing. Otherwise it's competing with so many other things and not always winning.

So for us, the context and relevance is achieved in several ways. Most of his preschool friends come from families with at least one Russian parents; his three closest friends are fluent Russian speakers. We have a solid library of children's books in Russian, and before letting him have screen time, I check if the cartoons he wants are available in Russian (they often are). He attends an afterschool lesson group one day a week where they take Russian and math in a small group setting of 4 to 5 kids, with a great deal of homework. We also have weekly conversations with family members who speak no English at all. All of this is to show that language has to be more than a merely academic pursuit to be appealing.

My son is very young and I'm sure that a day will come when he will rebel against his Russian half in some way. He is already beginning to address me in English but that is normal. We live in an English-speaking society and can't really get away from this. But for now we're doing all we can to preserve his birthright language as a gateway to culture, future opportunities, and more intimacy in our relationship - I don't especially want to be forced to speak a foreign language with my flesh and blood.

[Anonymous]

Not to hijack, but oh, how I wish there were "Tagalog School." If anyone knows of one, please comment here!

[Anonymous]

We're raising our kids trilingually and not using any weekend schools. It comes down to talking to your kids, reading to them, and teaching them to write in the non-school languages. If you do this enough, they'll be able to transfer knowledge from the school language to the other two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're raising our kids trilingually and not using any weekend schools. It comes down to talking to your kids, reading to them, and teaching them to write in the non-school languages. If you do this enough, they'll be able to transfer knowledge from the school language to the other two.

I take my hat off to you. Teaching irregular verbs and past participle wasn't my thing! Do you still pay for online courses or workbooks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're raising our kids trilingually and not using any weekend schools. It comes down to talking to your kids, reading to them, and teaching them to write in the non-school languages. If you do this enough, they'll be able to transfer knowledge from the school language to the other two.

Schools are important because they bring community.

I also found that sometimes kids learn better from other people vs. their parents.

I know my son would not have achieved what he did with my native language if he didn't go through immersion preschools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're raising our kids trilingually and not using any weekend schools. It comes down to talking to your kids, reading to them, and teaching them to write in the non-school languages. If you do this enough, they'll be able to transfer knowledge from the school language to the other two.

I take my hat off to you. Teaching irregular verbs and past participle wasn't my thing! Do you still pay for online courses or workbooks?

Thanks! We don't pay for courses or workbooks but we do spend a lot on books (fiction). There's a ton of free information online unless you're teaching very rare languages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're raising our kids trilingually and not using any weekend schools. It comes down to talking to your kids, reading to them, and teaching them to write in the non-school languages. If you do this enough, they'll be able to transfer knowledge from the school language to the other two.

Schools are important because they bring community.

I also found that sometimes kids learn better from other people vs. their parents.

I know my son would not have achieved what he did with my native language if he didn't go through immersion preschools.

Oh, by all means. I don't think immersion schools are bad (at least those during the week; I wouldn't sign up kids for weekend ones because family and free time are scarce enough as it is); I'm just pointing out that you can do it without them if you focus on the core skills.

[Anonymous]

My DD is trilingual (as much as a 4 year old can be) and goes to my hisband's native language class on Saturday. We only do that one language because that is the weakest language and because she spends the whole summer in my own country and as of now mine it's her native language. I think it's very important that she goes because my husband does not spend much time with her during the week and we speak English to each other. It's very important for her to play with other kids playing in that language. She is very social, but sometimes does not want to go to class. I would explain to your child how important it is to learn about your language and culture and how enriching that is. I did it with my 4 year old and I am sure your child will understand it much better. Don't give up! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You have to force her to respond in your native language otherwise it's a waste of time and money, and she won't get the feedback she needs. Also get her books, movies and songs in that language, buy her toys and cute stuff from that country, make her favorite dishes from that cuisine, integrate it completely in your life.

Can you do playdates with other children from that class? Can you invest in a vacation in your home country, to show her how people live there?

It's difficult, I know.
It's been really hard for the children to respond in our native language, especially since school has started again. This year I have decided to stand firm, because other parents with older children have guaranteed that this is the ONLY way a child can truly progress. We also have a hard time doing playdates or even talking to other adults, because everyone is so busy with other things, but occasionally it works out.
This summer I insisted that the kids only read in our native language, and they made great strides - they were happy at their own progress, which is the best motivator!

Good luck.

Trilingual PP here. What the PP above wrote is exactly what I'm talking about. If you turn your home into an immersion environment, you can teach your kids anything. My kids know that they can't speak to me in anything but Spanish or French or I'm going to either ask them Whaaa? or make them repeat it in Sp/Fr. I only read to them in Sp/Fr, etc. I only play media (movies, radio, etc) in Sp/Fr. They spend almost no time interacting with other kids in Sp/Fr, but they speak both well enough. To learn a language to a high level, a child needs to spend about 20-30% of waking time hearing the language. And if you want your child to be able to use the language actively, and not just passively, you need to insist on responses in the languages you're teaching, or else the child will take the easier path--as will all of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You have to force her to respond in your native language otherwise it's a waste of time and money, and she won't get the feedback she needs. Also get her books, movies and songs in that language, buy her toys and cute stuff from that country, make her favorite dishes from that cuisine, integrate it completely in your life.

Can you do playdates with other children from that class? Can you invest in a vacation in your home country, to show her how people live there?

It's difficult, I know.
It's been really hard for the children to respond in our native language, especially since school has started again. This year I have decided to stand firm, because other parents with older children have guaranteed that this is the ONLY way a child can truly progress. We also have a hard time doing playdates or even talking to other adults, because everyone is so busy with other things, but occasionally it works out.
This summer I insisted that the kids only read in our native language, and they made great strides - they were happy at their own progress, which is the best motivator!

Good luck.

Trilingual PP here. What the PP above wrote is exactly what I'm talking about. If you turn your home into an immersion environment, you can teach your kids anything. My kids know that they can't speak to me in anything but Spanish or French or I'm going to either ask them Whaaa? or make them repeat it in Sp/Fr. I only read to them in Sp/Fr, etc. I only play media (movies, radio, etc) in Sp/Fr. They spend almost no time interacting with other kids in Sp/Fr, but they speak both well enough. To learn a language to a high level, a child needs to spend about 20-30% of waking time hearing the language. And if you want your child to be able to use the language actively, and not just passively, you need to insist on responses in the languages you're teaching, or else the child will take the easier path--as will all of us.

Note: I'm not the other trilingual PP who just posted; I'm the one who's raising our kids (along with my spouse) without weekend schools.