How effective is Language Stars?
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Anonymous
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It is very high cost. I am wondering how effective it really is. An hour a week seems low to me? Maybe 2 hours a week? How much do we have to practice at home?
My baby is 14 months old. We have a Spanish speaking nanny who loves to talk and sing to him. We are not worried about his Spanish. I speak Mandarin, but my husband does not speak it, and my family lives far away. My nieces who live in MA can speak some Mandarin but with heavy American accent. I really want my child to be fluent in speaking Mandarin and eventually being able to read newspapers in Mandarin. Do you think Language Stars can achieve this goal? I am not impressed with the Mandarin immersion program in DC. The kids all have an American accent. We are moving to MoCo anyway. |
Anonymous
No. Your goal will not be met. Your child's fluency can be bolstered by you talking to your child in Mandarin all the time. |
Anonymous
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Waste of money, and in this case is quite a bit.
We did Spanish for over a year and I regret spending so much. Your child can learn more from Dora! |
Anonymous
Please... 
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Anonymous
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I can second that. My son learnt just some numbers and colors over a course of two sessions. He was 2 at the time.
I think it's too early for classes as such. They acquire a language with consistent exposure in every day environment but learning in a class it was just a very expensive try for us. We are trilingual family so you can trust my judgement. |
Anonymous
| We did language stars for 2 months and I felt the same way. I found an immersion preschool where my child spend 17 hours a week speaking Spanish and she will learn to read and write it. I think immersion is the only way to do it but it has to be for a huge chunk of time. |
Anonymous
| Thank you, posters! It is VERY expensive, I know. The difficult part is exposing the child to such an environment. I am not so worried about his Spanish because we are very good friend's with our nanny, her family and many neighbors who speak Spanish. However, Mandarin is another story... Where can I find a community of people who only speak Mandarin? I meet Chinese and Chinese Americans here and there. OK, maybe I should post on the Real Estate board for a neighborhood where there is a real community of Mandarin speakers. |
Anonymous
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We have done LS for over a year. Our DC knows way more than numbers and colors. It will not make your child fluent. People who think that will happen with a once a week class will be sorely disappointed. However, our DC has a pretty good vocabulary. It is not just watching Dora capability. DC is going to an immersion school next year and DC is well prepared for that. In fact, when we toured the school and listened to their preschool class who had been there for five months, our DC was more advanced.
LS and similar programs like Communikids are good for children of native speakers to be in a room with other kids working on the language. It is good for nonnative speaking parent kids to get exposure and a base to really learn the language later on. It is NOT a program to achieve fluency. It can't be that in a hour or two a week. Is that worth the money to you? Maybe not. It was for us. |
Anonymous
| My sons (3 & 5) are both in the spanish program at Language Stars and I am very impressed with the program. They are not fluent (yet) but I know the weekly exposure is very important. The most important thing is that they find the program FUN- so they are much more willing to work on language with us at home. My husband and I are not fluent in Spanish so we can't use it with them all of the time, but we do reinforce the LS program on a regular basis at home. I can guarantee that their Spanish skills FAR EXCEED what they get from Dora. And more importantly their enthusiasm for Spanish is quite high because of the program. I have also met LS families that attend more than 1 class a week and do more than 1 language- their children have exceptional foreign language skills (obviously the more time (and exposure) you put in the better and I feel LS has that opportunity). |
Anonymous
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Like you, I am a Mandarin speaker (though I'm second generation, so I have an American accent), and DH is not.
We have been sending DD (3 y.o.) for a few months to the Kids Only class. She loves it. I mean, seriously loves the class. She runs out each time, eager to show what creative project they've done and to show off her new vocabulary. It does NOT give her fluency. Once a week classes never will. It does: - give her another outlet to speak Mandarin, since I'm lax in speaking to her in Mandarin all the time - make her excited about learning Mandarin - make her more curious about the language. One of her most common questions now is "How do you say ____ in Chinese, Mommy?" And, she always wants to do Chinese flash cards or "read" a Chinese book on the iPad. Your choices in this area for full immersion are limited. MoCo has better options, but unless you commit to speaking to your kid full-time in Mandarin and/or hire a Mandarin-speaking nanny, you're probably facing having a kid speaking Mandarin with an American accent. I'll also point out that YMMV on your kid's interest, aptitude, patience, etc. Just because you have certain language goals for your kid, doesn't mean that s/he will have them too. It's a dangerous road to go down to "set goals" for your kid too early and then try to force them into it. |
Anonymous
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Who talks about fluency as a desired outcome? That is not the point. The question is: is it worth the money for a very ineffective program? Wat impact does it have on the future of my child? Are the few words that he remembers going to encourage him to speak that language in the future? Absolutely, not. Moreover, it can cause a mental block and he will be less likely to reach for any foreign language in the future. One of the most frustrating aspect in early childhood is inability to understand you. That goes to foreign language and for infants as well. It takes one class that your child is discouraged with and you may cause it to shut down.
The only positive way of language acquisition is consistent immersion. That can be parent, a family member, or a nanny that speaks to the child on daily basis , and must be ONLY in that particular language. A child can sing or say things in any language if you teach him but with no understanding at all. That is not teaching a language. This is not a sport of any kind that you can come once a week and learn a receipt for how to play it. Just think of your own native tounge. How did you learn it? Again, your child may learn a few words, often with no understanding, but if you weight out the cost and sense of it, unless you really have no idea what to do with your excess money, you should consider a better option for more promising enrichment program. |
Anonymous
Wow, boy did you get burnt or something?! |
Anonymous
No, just a disgusted, previous customer 
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Anonymous
| I'm sorry you have so much hate in your heart for a once week singing and craft session in a foreign language. I don't. |
Anonymous
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I'm sorry you have so much hate in your heart for a once week singing and craft session in a foreign language. I don't.
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