DCI vs Latin Cooper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Please explain the section in bold.

Not the parent, but there’s a group of parents who wish the Chinese track were a lot more intense from YY all the way on up, and it’s possible the parent here is one of them.

I understand that. I am the PP comparing schools in the suburbs. We are not in the Chinese track. I cannot speak to the quality of Chinese instruction. The people I know seem happy but, again I am not in the position to evaluate that program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:/\ NP responding to the immediate PP. We were faced with a similar decision regarding what to do when your child maxed out on the available language classes early in their school career. My DC always had an interest in learning more languages than just Spanish, so we made the decision that we would let them follow their interests and pick up a second or third language once they completed AP Spanish instead of prioritizing a K-12 Spanish immersion pathway. Could they be better in Spanish? Of course, but they made the choice to go for proficiency in multiple languages rather than maximizing fluency in one. And Spanish is easy. If they want to pick Spanish back up in college, it would be easy for them to pick up where they left off.

Not saying that's the right approach for all kids. But it worked for us and probably instilled a greater love for languages more than just continuing to focus on Spanish would have.

I am certain Spanish is an easier language than Chinese for example. But I feel compelled to tell you that most Americans speak it really poorly. So “picking it up” in college probably won’t happen unless they really put some work into it. Also it’s easy to learn the basics of a language. It is much harder to get good at one and learn to read and write etc. But honestly, if that’s not your priority, that makes total sense that you wouldn’t be interested in a language focused school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Why in whoever’s green earth would you want core subjects like math or physics taught in Chinese or French. It’s not like the exam is in those languages.
I mean how many teachers in the US would even be qualified to do it?

At DCI, kids take PE and social studies in target languages, not math or physics.

They teach math and physics in English even at universities abroad. It makes zero sense to take those courses in English.

Meant to say, it makes ZERO sense to take those courses in languages other than English. English is the language of math and science even overseas. Also PE is taught in English. Please only offer informed opinions.

From my perspective, the Art and Social Studies in Spanish have worked well. It would be great to also have PE in Spanish. I wish that there was tracking in English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Please explain the section in bold.

Not the parent, but there’s a group of parents who wish the Chinese track were a lot more intense from YY all the way on up, and it’s possible the parent here is one of them.

I understand that. I am the PP comparing schools in the suburbs. We are not in the Chinese track. I cannot speak to the quality of Chinese instruction. The people I know seem happy but, again I am not in the position to evaluate that program.

The most advanced instruction on the Chinese would be impressive in every grade if you didn't know that a bunch of the kids had been studying Chinese through full (Early Childhood), 50% immersion from K-5th, and at least two classes in Chinese throughout MS. True that you would be hard pressed to find a native-speaking Chinese track student OR a family that bothers with immersion study during breaks. That's right, there's literally one or two in both categories at DCI.

There's no pressure to knock yourself out on language study at DCI, no matter how advanced the track might be or what the language is. Yea, it all sounds much better on paper than it is.

I know that at BCC there are a bunch of dialect speakers in IB Diploma Chinese classes and non-Chinese families who pay for summer immersion programs. The reality is that DCI can't begin to compete and doesn't bother to try.

[Anonymous]

This last comment indicates that it may be a “school culture” issue. Parents of high achievers could consider what it might take to either improve the school culture or be independently motivated to maximize a student’s potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Please explain the section in bold.

Not the parent, but there’s a group of parents who wish the Chinese track were a lot more intense from YY all the way on up, and it’s possible the parent here is one of them.

I understand that. I am the PP comparing schools in the suburbs. We are not in the Chinese track. I cannot speak to the quality of Chinese instruction. The people I know seem happy but, again I am not in the position to evaluate that program.

The most advanced instruction on the Chinese would be impressive in every grade if you didn't know that a bunch of the kids had been studying Chinese through full (Early Childhood), 50% immersion from K-5th, and at least two classes in Chinese throughout MS. True that you would be hard pressed to find a native-speaking Chinese track student OR a family that bothers with immersion study during breaks. That's right, there's literally one or two in both categories at DCI.

There's no pressure to knock yourself out on language study at DCI, no matter how advanced the track might be or what the language is. Yea, it all sounds much better on paper than it is.

I know that at BCC there are a bunch of dialect speakers in IB Diploma Chinese classes and non-Chinese families who pay for summer immersion programs. The reality is that DCI can't begin to compete and doesn't bother to try.

I’m sorry to say this is word salad.

There are plenty of Chinese speaking families at dci. But just saying “the reality is that DCI can’t begin to compete and doesn’t bother to try” doesn’t make sense.

If you want to sling out childish insults, please go to a different thread. If you have real constructive criticism, I’m here to listen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This last comment indicates that it may be a “school culture” issue. Parents of high achievers could consider what it might take to either improve the school culture or be independently motivated to maximize a student’s potential.

This is more word salad. My kids are high achievers. I don’t care about the school culture whatsoever, I care about how my children are doing. This is just childish and frankly makes no sense. Try Google translate.

[Anonymous]

Total BS that there are many Chinese speaking kids at DCI. This is not word salad. This is a Chinese-speaking parent, one of the few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Please explain the section in bold.

Not the parent, but there’s a group of parents who wish the Chinese track were a lot more intense from YY all the way on up, and it’s possible the parent here is one of them.

I understand that. I am the PP comparing schools in the suburbs. We are not in the Chinese track. I cannot speak to the quality of Chinese instruction. The people I know seem happy but, again I am not in the position to evaluate that program.

The most advanced instruction on the Chinese would be impressive in every grade if you didn't know that a bunch of the kids had been studying Chinese through full (Early Childhood), 50% immersion from K-5th, and at least two classes in Chinese throughout MS. True that you would be hard pressed to find a native-speaking Chinese track student OR a family that bothers with immersion study during breaks. That's right, there's literally one or two in both categories at DCI.

There's no pressure to knock yourself out on language study at DCI, no matter how advanced the track might be or what the language is. Yea, it all sounds much better on paper than it is.

I know that at BCC there are a bunch of dialect speakers in IB Diploma Chinese classes and non-Chinese families who pay for summer immersion programs. The reality is that DCI can't begin to compete and doesn't bother to try.

I’m sorry to say this is word salad.

There are plenty of Chinese speaking families at dci. But just saying “the reality is that DCI can’t begin to compete and doesn’t bother to try” doesn’t make sense.

If you want to sling out childish insults, please go to a different thread. If you have real constructive criticism, I’m here to listen.

You can basically ignore this troll. She is easy to pick out and it’s the same person on every DCI thread who moans the chinese track and Yu Ying

BTW the overwhelming majority of kids in the chinese track in the IB diploma in the burbs are native speakers. There are hardly any non-native speakers because the kids drop off. They don’t get a lot of support and there is no k-12 track at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Please explain the section in bold.

Not the parent, but there’s a group of parents who wish the Chinese track were a lot more intense from YY all the way on up, and it’s possible the parent here is one of them.

I understand that. I am the PP comparing schools in the suburbs. We are not in the Chinese track. I cannot speak to the quality of Chinese instruction. The people I know seem happy but, again I am not in the position to evaluate that program.

The most advanced instruction on the Chinese would be impressive in every grade if you didn't know that a bunch of the kids had been studying Chinese through full (Early Childhood), 50% immersion from K-5th, and at least two classes in Chinese throughout MS. True that you would be hard pressed to find a native-speaking Chinese track student OR a family that bothers with immersion study during breaks. That's right, there's literally one or two in both categories at DCI.

There's no pressure to knock yourself out on language study at DCI, no matter how advanced the track might be or what the language is. Yea, it all sounds much better on paper than it is.

I know that at BCC there are a bunch of dialect speakers in IB Diploma Chinese classes and non-Chinese families who pay for summer immersion programs. The reality is that DCI can't begin to compete and doesn't bother to try.

I’m sorry to say this is word salad.

There are plenty of Chinese speaking families at dci. But just saying “the reality is that DCI can’t begin to compete and doesn’t bother to try” doesn’t make sense.

If you want to sling out childish insults, please go to a different thread. If you have real constructive criticism, I’m here to listen.

You can basically ignore this troll. She is easy to pick out and it’s the same person on every DCI thread who moans the chinese track and Yu Ying

BTW the overwhelming majority of kids in the chinese track in the IB diploma in the burbs are native speakers. There are hardly any non-native speakers because the kids drop off. They don’t get a lot of support and there is no k-12 track at all.

And instead of moving on and out of DC, she comments on every thread and her kid goes to weekend school in burbs with her knowing full well they won’t be fluent.

[Anonymous]

Well I'm not a troll. I'm a Chinese-speaking parent at DCI who sees that the YY survivors aren't knocking themselves out for Mandarin. I don't hear about anybody at DCI in my kids' cohorts bothering with summer immersion. Just not happening. I know there are Spanish families who go for it at Concordia, etc Good for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I'm not a troll. I'm a Chinese-speaking parent at DCI who sees that the YY survivors aren't knocking themselves out for Mandarin. I don't hear about anybody at DCI in my kids' cohorts bothering with summer immersion. Just not happening. I know there are Spanish families who go for it at Concordia, etc Good for them.

Do you work for Concordia? My spanish speaking kids just go visit their grandparents in Latin America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above sounds wonderful, and maybe there's a good deal of truth in it for Spanish. But academic subjects aren't taught exclusively in target languages in the DCI middle school, because very few students could cope with the content if this were the case. Kids can't become fluent in languages simply by learning them at DCI or a DCI feeder, a fact that's lost on most UMC DCI parents. From what I can tell, very few DCI families send their children to weekend or summer language immersion programs, even when they can readily afford them. DCI families have other priorities, at off the Spanish track. If you want kick ass Higher Level IB Chinese, French of Arabic, head to Bethesda Chevy Chase, not DCI.

Please explain the section in bold.

Not the parent, but there’s a group of parents who wish the Chinese track were a lot more intense from YY all the way on up, and it’s possible the parent here is one of them.

I understand that. I am the PP comparing schools in the suburbs. We are not in the Chinese track. I cannot speak to the quality of Chinese instruction. The people I know seem happy but, again I am not in the position to evaluate that program.

The most advanced instruction on the Chinese would be impressive in every grade if you didn't know that a bunch of the kids had been studying Chinese through full (Early Childhood), 50% immersion from K-5th, and at least two classes in Chinese throughout MS. True that you would be hard pressed to find a native-speaking Chinese track student OR a family that bothers with immersion study during breaks. That's right, there's literally one or two in both categories at DCI.

There's no pressure to knock yourself out on language study at DCI, no matter how advanced the track might be or what the language is. Yea, it all sounds much better on paper than it is.

I know that at BCC there are a bunch of dialect speakers in IB Diploma Chinese classes and non-Chinese families who pay for summer immersion programs. The reality is that DCI can't begin to compete and doesn't bother to try.

I’m sorry to say this is word salad.

There are plenty of Chinese speaking families at dci. But just saying “the reality is that DCI can’t begin to compete and doesn’t bother to try” doesn’t make sense.

If you want to sling out childish insults, please go to a different thread. If you have real constructive criticism, I’m here to listen.

You can basically ignore this troll. She is easy to pick out and it’s the same person on every DCI thread who moans the chinese track and Yu Ying

BTW the overwhelming majority of kids in the chinese track in the IB diploma in the burbs are native speakers. There are hardly any non-native speakers because the kids drop off. They don’t get a lot of support and there is no k-12 track at all.

Listen I am so happy to hear people’s rationale as to why dci is not a good school. Maybe it isn’t a good school? But my personal experience with my 2 kids has been cautiously optimistic. On paper it seems like dci offers several things that aren’t offered in the suburbs. It is correct that there is lower per pupil spending than Fairfax county, and it is also true that for some extracurricular activities you must pay your own way outside of school. That doesn’t mother me. I do wish dci students didn’t have to take metrobuses or the metro to school. I worry about my kids.


If anyone has any constructive reason why I should financially take a massive hit and move to the suburbs I’d love to hear it.

Btw- I did actually visit a lot of these suburban schools. I did not like Langley’s vibe at all, as a lot of kids drove some seriously fancy cars. I did not like BCC spanish program one but as it seemed to have little diversity and the spanish program seemed weak. I can’t say I comprehensively looked at every place, but I did like Washington Liberty. I didn’t bother with Richard Montgomery because it’s impossible to get in and I hate Rockville (sorry). I think visiting the schools and attending open houses is helpful. I would love to categorically say DCI is the best but I just don’t know.

[Anonymous]

No-brainer. You get more serious facilities, math, science, social studies, English, electives, ECs and college counseling at the better suburban schools than at DCI and Latin Cooper. You also get larger cohorts of high performing kids and admins who aren’t as equity minded. Do you get better Spanish? Probably not. Nobody can decide if moving mainly for schools is worth it but you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No-brainer. You get more serious facilities, math, science, social studies, English, electives, ECs and college counseling at the better suburban schools than at DCI and Latin Cooper. You also get larger cohorts of high performing kids and admins who aren’t as equity minded. Do you get better Spanish? Probably not. Nobody can decide if moving mainly for schools is worth it but you.

Please explain what “more serious” means.