Sp or Ch language?

[Anonymous]

YY parent here.
I don't feel like a refugee who is too polite to ask for something better. I'm pretty happy with what I see: dedicated staff, amazing principal, very diverse student body. We don't speak English at home. Chinese is my DC third language. And we are not the only one in this position: there are French, Spanish, German, Russian speakers.

Are we there because we are too dumb to see that YY is a water-down version of the entire, full immersion for real Chinese (mandarin speaking only I guess..)? Are we there because we're so desperate for our kids to learn Chinese, the language of the future??

Not sure for all, but for us? NOOOOOOOOO-- We're there because our IB sucks, and that Chinese sounds better than Spanish, specially that (in your famous 2 ways model) your kids are not going to learn the "real" spanish (Spain, Argentina) but probably some dialect from San Salvador...

Chinese for White and Black people? Great!!!! That's the way we like it..

[Anonymous]

YY's population is thought to be around 5% Chinese (adopted girls not included) and 2% fully bilingual.

How do you come by these stats? It's been mentioned that YY doesn't keep track of who's Chinese and who's bilingual, at least not officially, and certainly doesn't publish such info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

YY's population is thought to be around 5% Chinese (adopted girls not included) and 2% fully bilingual.

How do you come by these stats? It's been mentioned that YY doesn't keep track of who's Chinese and who's bilingual, at least not officially, and certainly doesn't publish such info.

You just ask teachers who speak Cantonese, in Cantonese, about which kids speak a dialect at home and how well, which parents speak which dialects, who's from China, Taiwan, HK etc. who's American-Chinese. They'll tell you freely. Teachers won't give this info in Mandarin or English because they don't want non-Chinese to listen in.

The main obstacle to drawing in more bilingual Chinese is the lack of a Cantonese-speaking administrator doing outreach. A good many immigrant Chinese parents in the District don't speak great English or Mandarin, and are self-conscious about it. They don't know who to talk to at YY. They hear that the school isn't for people like them and believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the PA there's also an element of triage. There are a lot of concerns that pop up over the course of a school year, and most parents--myself included--pay the most attention to short-term issues that affect our own children day-to-day. Over the past 12 months, the big PA initiatives I can think of were constructing the school's playground and holding administrators' feet to the fire over bullying. Sure, more Mandarin speakers would be awesome--but I can't prioritize that goal over my child's health and happiness.

I'm a Chinese-American parent who feels the same way. I don't pay the most attention to the dubious prospect of Mandarin learning at a young age with very few other ethnic families over my kids' health and happiness. I ensure that they learn good Cantonese, and connect with like-minded parents (at a weekend Cantonese school in Rockville). I scraped and saved to afford a home where the IB school is good. I plan for them to start Mandarin in MS and to take AP Mandarin in HS. After that, up to them if they continue with Chinese, but I'll never speak English to them. In NYC or San Fran, I'd be at an immersion Chinese school in a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Over the past 12 months, the big PA initiatives I can think of were constructing the school's playground and holding administrators' feet to the fire over bullying.

What's the deal with the bullying? I've heard rumors, and read the odd snippet on DCUMB, but that's it.

I'm a Chinese immigrant- we have a spot but haven't taken it.

As a kid, I attended a majority AA ES where kids called me "chink" almost every day, accompanied by the dreaded corner-of-eyes pulling gesture. After my family complained, through an interpreter, the bullying accelerated. My Caucasian spouse claims that we have no reason to think our DC would be bullied at YY, but I'm not convinced - kids are cruel, Chinese kids are a very small minority, and there isn't an Asian administrator to talk to, an authority figure who may have had similar experiences (perhaps w/white or Hispanic kids).

[Anonymous]

Bullying at YY is no more or no worse than at other schools my kids have attended. Kids are kids.

what is worse (much worse) is the administrators claiming it does not happen / has not happened. And the support structures to resolve not being in place (peer mediation from 3rd and 4th graders anyone?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bullying at YY is no more or no worse than at other schools my kids have attended. Kids are kids.

what is worse (much worse) is the administrators claiming it does not happen / has not happened. And the support structures to resolve not being in place (peer mediation from 3rd and 4th graders anyone?).

Perhaps, but at least administrators are getting better about facing the music. I haven't seen or heard that the bullying has been race or class-based - more big/older kids pushing around younger/smaller ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YY should reach out to native speakers and emphasize that applying on the first day, the first hour of the lottery, puts them on top of the wait list. Everyone on DCUM knows this and plans accordingly. Native speakers may or may not know. They could highlight native speakers on their internal wait list, and as soon as one comes to number 1, accept them even if the class size appeared to be one over target.

Perhaps you have not read the entire thread. YY did reach out to the DC Chinese community, and was summarily rebuffed.

I read in years 1 and 2. Time to do it again.

If you want it, you are free to join in and reach out. If you just want to sit back and bitch about what others would do, oh well . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YY parent here. Chinese for White and Black people? Great!!!! That's the way we like it..

You mean almost exclusively for white/black people? Only for them? I'm a LAMB parent not understanding why many YY parents don't grasp the the critical importance of having a decent-sized group of ethnic families involved, even if the language teaching is great. 2% bilingual yet fantastic, pleez.

I don't meet LAMB parents who talk/think like you guys. Sounds hopelessly parochial. For my tax dollar, the city shouldn't be in the business of granting charters to groups w/out strong cultural ties to a language. People setting up a 1-way immersion program when a better quality 2-way was possible. At this rate, sounds like YY's growing popularity/fame could prove a paper tiger in the upper grades.

Anybody else unhappy with the idea of DCI being so far up, by Walter Reed? That's more than 10 miles for the Hill families, and there are many at most of the immersion schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody else unhappy with the idea of DCI being so far up, by Walter Reed? That's more than 10 miles for the Hill families, and there are many at most of the immersion schools.

It's not just by Walter Reed--it's on the Walter Reed campus. The location was chosen because it's surplus federal property that was basically given to YY (on the strength of the school's application).

[Anonymous]

Perhaps you have not read the entire thread. YY did reach out to the DC Chinese community, and was summarily rebuffed.

I read in years 1 and 2. Time to do it again.

If you want it, you are free to join in and reach out. If you just want to sit back and bitch about what others would do, oh well . . .

I must be one of the only non-Chinese Cantonese speakers for miles (former LDS missionary in Hong Kong). Reaching out won't work w/out dialect speakers leading the charge -this has to be why YY was "summarily rebuffed" in years 1 & 2. It's just not an outward-looking culture, even if learning Mandarin imposes an outward-looking element on Chinese with strong family ties to the South (most in DC).

Couldn't the PA at least lobby for a Cantonese-speaking administrator if YY wants to get bilingual numbers up, even a little? Is it out of the question?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couldn't the PA at least lobby for a Cantonese-speaking administrator if YY wants to get bilingual numbers up, even a little? Is it out of the question?

I think this will happen, though no-one on DCUM will witness it.

[Anonymous]

The PA has absolutely no sway in any of this. YY's president of the board of trustees HATES the PA because they split off to be a separate organization from the school. They did it so the money they raised could be spent in a way decided by parents, not the board. Combine that with all of their hiring for key positions done without a competitive search and the results won't happen. When the ED wanted to move to starting the new school they just reorganized positions and hired from within so they wouldn't need to look for someone new.

[Anonymous]

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

[Anonymous]

Are you saying that the critic would be selected as a parent rep to the board? we'll see, I predict only yah-sayers for the hire from within crowd (e.g,. we're great already!), will be appointed. God bless us cold and timid souls on the outside of decision-making.