Yu Ying

[Anonymous]

YY parent of six years here. Echoing any sentiment shared regarding supplementing the curriculum at home.

This is a must for most public programs nowadays due to the heavy amount of paperwork and data entry public school teachers are subjected to. They just do not have the time or energy to authentically analyze student achievement and authentically plan/implement/monitor lesson plans and modifications for individual students.

One of the best resources about YY is the access provided to supplemental resources, but in order to be truly successful in synthesizing the curriculum, I’d offer that at least 1-2 hours nightly of study/enrichment is preferable beyond second grade.

Loved my decision to send my kids there. It takes a lot of work on the parent side to make it work.

[Anonymous]

YY parent of 5 years who agrees.

The real problem is that the YY community doesn't want to confront or address the problem that supplementing takes major resources and a realcommitment that most of the families cannot or will not provide. Why should parents sacrifice to supplement when the school isn't asking them to do this? Most families don't have a strong connection to the language or culture, so supplementing doesn't come naturally.

The school could raise money to help families supplement and raise expectations for Chinese proficiency but doesn't. We're in the group that scrimps and saves to supplement extensively year round. We're a minority, a small minority actually.

When Mandarin speakers outside the school community point out that a good number of YY students struggle to speak everyday Chinese in the upper grades, they aren't making the case just to be disagreeable. I don't see that.

[Anonymous]

+100.

[Anonymous]

Do you have to supplement ELA or just Chinese?

[Anonymous]

Not too sure what supplementing for ELA means. We're a big family of readers, limit screen time, often take the kids to plays and intelligent movies, play spelling and board games to build vocabulary, enroll the kids in academic summer programs etc. None of that feels like supplementing. Outside enrichment for Chinese is much more deliberate, and expensive, because neither parent is a native speaker. We wouldn't need to supplement for the kids to get good grades in Chinese. But if we didn't, their speaking skills would be fairly minimal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have to supplement ELA or just Chinese?

We supplemented for both. Specifically in ELA, we had to spend at least 30 minutes per night on basic grammar, such as phonemic awareness in the early years (digraphs, blends, etc). For Mandarin, we used the parent portal and a tutor to facilitate home learning

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

Why bump a year old thread? Start a new one, or post on the current thread.

[Anonymous]

Better yet, stop posting about YY. No need. The boosters have it, the program is practically perfect in every way. Anybody who disagrees is not only flat out wrong, they have an axe to grind, along with mental health issues.

I've said it all, now you move on.

[Anonymous]

Exactly, we’ll put PP!! Finally seems like people on here have come around.

[Anonymous]

*well* put

[Anonymous]

YY Parent of seven years here. YY has changed a lot over the last few years; I think the changes have been for the better.

1. On supplementing. Every school has different glows and grows; our family supplements both the academic and chinese curriculum but we would have done this in any school that we selected.

2. On Chinese acquisition/fluency. Each of our children with the same supports (both inside and out of school) have reached very different levels of fluency. While one may love the language and has shown a passion for it, another may not be as passionate about it and doesn't demonstrate excitement about it. Their levels of fluency have been impacted by their interest.

3. On Social emotional skills. We have enjoyed the facilities and general sense of place that our children have expressed joy in. This may not be important for every family, but it was important for us.

4. On Parent/Teacher, Parent/Parent interactions. Teachers have been generally accessible; timely communications can be difficult when concerns arise. Parent/Parent interactions are generally positive with a few exceptions. The negative parent/parent interactions tend to be few and far between for the average YY parent.

Hope this helps. Made a wonderful choice for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Please give it a rest booster. No need to rehash old material.

Any level of "fluency" is fantasy unless you hosted Mandarin speaking au pairs for the seven years, and/or one of you is a native speaker who knocks themselves out to ensure that the kids answer Chinese with Chinese.

We'll buy the rest.

[Anonymous]

Ha ha ha, no need to rehash old material? You mean that ironically, I hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YY Parent of seven years here. YY has changed a lot over the last few years; I think the changes have been for the better.

1. On supplementing. Every school has different glows and grows; our family supplements both the academic and chinese curriculum but we would have done this in any school that we selected.

2. On Chinese acquisition/fluency. Each of our children with the same supports (both inside and out of school) have reached very different levels of fluency. While one may love the language and has shown a passion for it, another may not be as passionate about it and doesn't demonstrate excitement about it. Their levels of fluency have been impacted by their interest.

3. On Social emotional skills. We have enjoyed the facilities and general sense of place that our children have expressed joy in. This may not be important for every family, but it was important for us.

4. On Parent/Teacher, Parent/Parent interactions. Teachers have been generally accessible; timely communications can be difficult when concerns arise. Parent/Parent interactions are generally positive with a few exceptions. The negative parent/parent interactions tend to be few and far between for the average YY parent.

Hope this helps. Made a wonderful choice for my kids.

What are you using to supplement for the Chinese curriculum? Please dont say that you all host an au pair.