What DCPS ESs have foreign language as part of their core curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

[Anonymous]

Takoma elementary has Spanish, art, dance, gym, library, and music as specials. They get 1 special a day so each semester their class doesn’t have 1 (they always have gym). Up to 2nd grade science is a special too. 3-5 get science twice a week with the stem teacher in addition to their specials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, better use of resources, especially in Title 1 schools, is to use that money for reading and math supports.

Nope. People keep trying to drop arts programs, foreign language, etc. for yet MORE reading and math supports. Kids need to be exposed to more than reading and math. Some schools barely teach science and social studies because the primary focus is on math and reading. Obviously those are the two important foundations for education, but we need to stop focusing solely on those two subjects.

No one cares if you know science and social studies in day to day real life and in most jobs. But you need to be able to read and do basic math in your day to day life and for most employment, even menial low wage jobs.

I completely disagree. It is IMPERATIVE that people know social studies (history, geography, government) and science. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, better use of resources, especially in Title 1 schools, is to use that money for reading and math supports.

Nope. People keep trying to drop arts programs, foreign language, etc. for yet MORE reading and math supports. Kids need to be exposed to more than reading and math. Some schools barely teach science and social studies because the primary focus is on math and reading. Obviously those are the two important foundations for education, but we need to stop focusing solely on those two subjects.

No one cares if you know science and social studies in day to day real life and in most jobs. But you need to be able to read and do basic math in your day to day life and for most employment, even menial low wage jobs.

I completely disagree. It is IMPERATIVE that people know social studies (history, geography, government) and science. Period.

Also, school is not only about maximally raising the bottom. Kids who are good at school deserve to be appropriately educated too. My 3rd grader came home and said that his teacher said he was amazing at geography because he was the only kid in the class who could explain the difference between a continent, a country, a state and a city. That’s insane. 3rd grade!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, better use of resources, especially in Title 1 schools, is to use that money for reading and math supports.

Nope. People keep trying to drop arts programs, foreign language, etc. for yet MORE reading and math supports. Kids need to be exposed to more than reading and math. Some schools barely teach science and social studies because the primary focus is on math and reading. Obviously those are the two important foundations for education, but we need to stop focusing solely on those two subjects.

No one cares if you know science and social studies in day to day real life and in most jobs. But you need to be able to read and do basic math in your day to day life and for most employment, even menial low wage jobs.

This is a bad take.

You need to know math IN ORDER to do science -- that's how they are related. One leads to the next.

Similarly, you need to know how to read in order to understand "social studies" (all humanities fields) and then learn content. When schools focus on the skills (how to read and doing math) but never get to implementation (humanities and science) they are not building a productive member of society.

[Anonymous]

Some elementary schools have it as an option for after-school enrichment. Yes, you pay extra for it, but it seems more productive to have it daily, in a focused setting, and allegedly taught in a grade-appropriate format.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, better use of resources, especially in Title 1 schools, is to use that money for reading and math supports.

Our title 1 school has reading support, reading acceleration, math support and Spanish.

If the majority of kids are below grade level in math or ELA, then you need more support than what you have.

Who said the majority of kids are below grade level? Hence why they have reading acceleration and reading support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, better use of resources, especially in Title 1 schools, is to use that money for reading and math supports.

Nope. People keep trying to drop arts programs, foreign language, etc. for yet MORE reading and math supports. Kids need to be exposed to more than reading and math. Some schools barely teach science and social studies because the primary focus is on math and reading. Obviously those are the two important foundations for education, but we need to stop focusing solely on those two subjects.

No one cares if you know science and social studies in day to day real life and in most jobs. But you need to be able to read and do basic math in your day to day life and for most employment, even menial low wage jobs.

This is a bad take.

You need to know math IN ORDER to do science -- that's how they are related. One leads to the next.

Similarly, you need to know how to read in order to understand "social studies" (all humanities fields) and then learn content. When schools focus on the skills (how to read and doing math) but never get to implementation (humanities and science) they are not building a productive member of society.

Sure but the reality is that lots of kids can’t read or do basic math. If you can’t even get to 1st base, then no way you can get to 2nd or 3rd base.

As to science, our immersion charter does not have science as a separate class. It is incorporated in the english class where the kids have science topics, research it, do a paper and poster, and presentation. During this whole process, they are editing and rewriting their paper, etc….

Same with social studies. Topics every year and they read and learn and do field trips to Jamestown.

You can only do above if the kids and the class are already reading and can do math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

Someone may have already debunked this but it’s not true that immersion is only available at charters. Chisholm (formerly Tyler) is DCPS Spanish immersion and I believe Oyster-Adams is, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

Someone may have already debunked this but it’s not true that immersion is only available at charters. Chisholm (formerly Tyler) is DCPS Spanish immersion and I believe Oyster-Adams is, too.

But PP said fluent. Your kid is not going to be fluent with just elementary immersion. They need to continue the language thru middle school and high school. And it’s not just taking a foreign language like a traditional school but actually taking other subjects in the language too.

Oyster tracks to Adams but it’s such a small middle school with limited course offerings, EC, and clubs. Then after that it is a dead end.

So PP is correct that the only real path in this town to fluency is charter with the immersion charters to DCI. The only other path is WIS which is private and 50k plus a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

Someone may have already debunked this but it’s not true that immersion is only available at charters. Chisholm (formerly Tyler) is DCPS Spanish immersion and I believe Oyster-Adams is, too.

But PP said fluent. Your kid is not going to be fluent with just elementary immersion. They need to continue the language thru middle school and high school. And it’s not just taking a foreign language like a traditional school but actually taking other subjects in the language too.

Oyster tracks to Adams but it’s such a small middle school with limited course offerings, EC, and clubs. Then after that it is a dead end.

So PP is correct that the only real path in this town to fluency is charter with the immersion charters to DCI. The only other path is WIS which is private and 50k plus a year

NP, and I’ve taught plenty of Oyster kids over the years. Most are pretty much fluent in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Many immersion parents envision their kid using these language skills a lot as adults, and assume it will be critical to their kid's career, or will lead to lots of travel or a more cosmopolitan lifestyle. It might, but it also might not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

Someone may have already debunked this but it’s not true that immersion is only available at charters. Chisholm (formerly Tyler) is DCPS Spanish immersion and I believe Oyster-Adams is, too.

But PP said fluent. Your kid is not going to be fluent with just elementary immersion. They need to continue the language thru middle school and high school. And it’s not just taking a foreign language like a traditional school but actually taking other subjects in the language too.

Oyster tracks to Adams but it’s such a small middle school with limited course offerings, EC, and clubs. Then after that it is a dead end.

So PP is correct that the only real path in this town to fluency is charter with the immersion charters to DCI. The only other path is WIS which is private and 50k plus a year

NP, and I’ve taught plenty of Oyster kids over the years. Most are pretty much fluent in Spanish.

This is true. I believe all 8th graders pass the AP exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

Someone may have already debunked this but it’s not true that immersion is only available at charters. Chisholm (formerly Tyler) is DCPS Spanish immersion and I believe Oyster-Adams is, too.

But PP said fluent. Your kid is not going to be fluent with just elementary immersion. They need to continue the language thru middle school and high school. And it’s not just taking a foreign language like a traditional school but actually taking other subjects in the language too.

Oyster tracks to Adams but it’s such a small middle school with limited course offerings, EC, and clubs. Then after that it is a dead end.

So PP is correct that the only real path in this town to fluency is charter with the immersion charters to DCI. The only other path is WIS which is private and 50k plus a year

NP, and I’ve taught plenty of Oyster kids over the years. Most are pretty much fluent in Spanish.

This is true. I believe all 8th graders pass the AP exam.

Passing an AP exam just shows you are proficient. It doesn’t not mean you are fluent. Neither is just understanding.

Fluency is understanding, speaking, reading, and writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having a foreign language as a special is nothing like immersion. If you want your kid to be fluent, you need immersion and that's only available at charters.

Someone may have already debunked this but it’s not true that immersion is only available at charters. Chisholm (formerly Tyler) is DCPS Spanish immersion and I believe Oyster-Adams is, too.

Powell is also dual-language.