Moving to DC - 5th gradeer with limited English (Spanish) - please advise

[Anonymous]

I have friends moving to Petworth. Their child is in 5th grade and she only speaks Spanish.

What would you recommend for the rest of the year? How about for next year?

[Anonymous]

I would recommend an immersion program. For charters, see if Stokes has a space, as they take applicants every year unlike other charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend an immersion program. For charters, see if Stokes has a space, as they take applicants every year unlike other charters.

do they accept children throughout the year?

[Anonymous]

In addition to immersion programs have your friend visit the DCPS website. Click on the link at the top for school profiles. On that page click in the map of schools in the upper right hand corner. Find where she is moving and look for schools near her (she can specify elem or middle, etc). Then check out individual profiles for the schools she wants to learn more about. She may want to consider schools that have a large percentage of Latino students -- the school profiles offer demographics. I imagine schools with a high percentage of Latino students would have more ELL resources and would be able to support your friend's child the best. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You may want to check the public charter schools first.

[Anonymous]

Stokes and Capital City. Almost a quarter of Cap City students are ESL/Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Look into Powell, it's in Petworth and I believe they have a dual language program.

[Anonymous]

Columbia Heights Educational Campus.
http://checdc.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia Heights Educational Campus.
http://checdc.org/

This. I would not recommended an immersion program. Immersion programs are generally for kids who have a solid foundation in English and are native English speakers learning another language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stokes and Capital City. Almost a quarter of Cap City students are ESL/Spanish.[/quote

Any school BUT Capital City for upper elementary/Middle School ESOL.
ESOL classes are only for lower elementary grades. When we were in Cap City, I did everything to get my child receive ESOL classes but all he got was ESOL testing for 2 years in a row. They finally said that ESOL in upper elementary and middle school is done through inclusion only (teacher goes in class and helps the ESOL student).
There was no modification, and a student with 2 years of English was expected to do the same work as everyone else.
The hispanic kids who were enrolled in ESOL are fluent in English, in US schools since pre-K or Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Brightwood

[Anonymous]

CHEC doesn't have fifth grade, but Powell does. They have a dual language program with lots of staff and students who are bilingual.

[Anonymous]

A child with Spanish only in 5th grade might benefit from direct contact with the Office of Bilingual Education for an assessment. http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Office+Directory/Bilingual+Education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Columbia Heights Educational Campus.
http://checdc.org/

This. I would not recommended an immersion program. Immersion programs are generally for kids who have a solid foundation in English and are native English speakers learning another language.

this is just not true. take a look at Center for Applied Linguistics research and documentation on the benefits of immersion programs for native language speakers.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Columbia Heights Educational Campus.
http://checdc.org/[/quote]

This. I would not recommended an immersion program. Immersion programs are generally for kids who have a solid foundation in English and are native English speakers learning another language.[/quote]

this is just not true. take a look at Center for Applied Linguistics research and documentation on the benefits of immersion programs for native language speakers. [/quote]

This is a 10 yr old 5th grader with limited English. OP does not say if this is someone who immigrated from another country who is at grade level in Spanish, ie a native language speaker. At this age, they should be looking at ESOL - learning English. As useful as Spanish maybe as a second language in the US, you won't get anywhere without knowing English.