Jealous of a friends’ kids’ extracurricular

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No kids are becoming fluent just from taking a language in school. They are not Trilingual with high school French or Spanish.

If the languages are similar they can. My kids grew up speaking English & Spanish in the home. Because of the similarities between French & Spanish, they all picked up French very easily in school.

[Anonymous]

Your kids grew up happy and well adjusted by playing soccer. Life isn’t just about college applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure it’s work, but not unique. Kids of certain demographics being put in Saturday language school and doing projects in “home country” is pretty common.

I think it’s pretty unique for non-Asian countries, which this is. And the ability to have documented (by grades and AP tests) trilinguality is impressive. And my comment about doing projects in the home country wasn’t that it was unique, just that it was a perfectly formed puzzle piece in a very well curated narrative that looks more organic because this language school was started when the children were 4.

It's not that unique in the DC area. Kids don't have time to do everything---everyone makes tradeoffs. Great that your friend's kids are trilingual-- and it's fine that your kids focused on sports instead.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP. Your friend was able to strategize well and also give an incredible gift to their child.

Yes, it is a more cohesive story for admissions purposes as well as a lifelong benefit and flex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

I think it is a good cautionary tale. Immigrants should make a serious attempt to make sure that their kids do not lose their native language. Mastery in the native language will open opportunities for them for rest of their lives.

When non-English speakers become American citizens, they should strive for double benefit of getting the best of the American experience and getting the best of their country of origin experience. That way they are in a position to give to themselves and also this country. Don't lose your natural heritage.

[Anonymous]

I spent my entire sat life at one of these language schools. I do have some friends who ended up working in home country.

I ended up marrying someone from a different country and my kids are mixed.

There are so many paths. I don’t know why you are jealous. I don’t think the sat language school would have made your kid have international internships. One of my three kids is in sat language school and it is an extracurricular like ballet or swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

Was this the German school (DSW) in Potomac?

No I bet it’s Escuela Argentina. It’s the only school I know where you can actually earn a high school diploma from that country. It’s certified by the Ministry of Education in Argentina.

Yup. The French Saturday School in Bethesda encourages students to take the DELF B2 exam, a French national exam, and you get a diploma for that, but it's not a high school degree - it's just a French proficiency degree.

You could also just do one of the French immersion programs like the ones offered at some FCPS schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

I think it is a good cautionary tale. Immigrants should make a serious attempt to make sure that their kids do not lose their native language. Mastery in the native language will open opportunities for them for rest of their lives.

When non-English speakers become American citizens, they should strive for double benefit of getting the best of the American experience and getting the best of their country of origin experience. That way they are in a position to give to themselves and also this country. Don't lose your natural heritage.

It doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. You kid is likely to rarely us it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

I think it is a good cautionary tale. Immigrants should make a serious attempt to make sure that their kids do not lose their native language. Mastery in the native language will open opportunities for them for rest of their lives.

When non-English speakers become American citizens, they should strive for double benefit of getting the best of the American experience and getting the best of their country of origin experience. That way they are in a position to give to themselves and also this country. Don't lose your natural heritage.

It doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. You kid is likely to rarely us it.

I completely disagree. Being fluent in other languages means that a whole new world of job opportunities, culture, art, literature, theatre, cinema opens up for you.

Its like saying that sports or music lessons are a waste because you will rarely use it. LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

You should feel the shame because you’ve really let your kids down. Truly you kids probably couldn’t hack it anyway. WTF!

Raise the kids you have - happiness is worth more than achievement. Plus truly motivated students will do better than parented scaffolded ones.

My brother was a straight B/C student until the end of his sophomore year when he decided school could be interesting. He got a BS in geography from Northwestern and didn’t get a master’s degree. He runs an international company and is a multi-millionaire. What you don’t realize is his social skills - built through school and sports - were way more valuable than his ability to speak broken Spanish or French. He also didn’t do any internships because he was focused on soccer.

Meanwhile - I was a straight A student and National Merit semi-finalist. I graduated summa cum laude and have a PhD. I’m a cog in a large corporate wheel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

I think it is a good cautionary tale. Immigrants should make a serious attempt to make sure that their kids do not lose their native language. Mastery in the native language will open opportunities for them for rest of their lives.

When non-English speakers become American citizens, they should strive for double benefit of getting the best of the American experience and getting the best of their country of origin experience. That way they are in a position to give to themselves and also this country. Don't lose your natural heritage.

It doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. You kid is likely to rarely us it.

I completely disagree. Being fluent in other languages means that a whole new world of job opportunities, culture, art, literature, theatre, cinema opens up for you.

Its like saying that sports or music lessons are a waste because you will rarely use it. LOL.

NP.

I think it’s good to be bilingual and plus, it can help later.

Our kid is still a toddler but she’s going to be bilingual in my wife’s language (it’s an Asian language). She talks with DD and she understands it ok.

Not wasting our Saturdays (plus all that $$) on an unnecessary language school. Some of you folks seem kinda over the top, TBH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No kids are becoming fluent just from taking a language in school. They are not Trilingual with high school French or Spanish.

If the languages are similar they can. My kids grew up speaking English & Spanish in the home. Because of the similarities between French & Spanish, they all picked up French very easily in school.

Yeah I took a lot of advance language classes with some of these native speakers and they were basically illiterate in the classroom. I would take fluency with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

As another poster said, comparison is the thief of joy. You have no idea whether this will make any difference at all. I have friends whose kids took Saturday school for Japanese and their kids also took either French or Spanish in high school through the AP level and these kids did not do great in college admissions, but that was not the point - the point is that their moms immigrated from Japan and wanted their kids to be able to communicate with their grandparents/cousins in Japan.

Also, you need to not get fixated on this type of thinking. My friends had their kids pursue unusual activities, play unusual instruments, pursue interests that are really different (underwater basketweaving), start a campaign for a rare species of whatever, etc. There are many ways kids will stand out from your kid - this kid is not the reason your kid will not get into a really good school.

I regret a lot of things that I did 10 years ago, but I absolutely do not regret having my kids play travel sports instead of going to saturday school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

I think it is a good cautionary tale. Immigrants should make a serious attempt to make sure that their kids do not lose their native language. Mastery in the native language will open opportunities for them for rest of their lives.

When non-English speakers become American citizens, they should strive for double benefit of getting the best of the American experience and getting the best of their country of origin experience. That way they are in a position to give to themselves and also this country. Don't lose your natural heritage.

It doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. You kid is likely to rarely us it.

I completely disagree. Being fluent in other languages means that a whole new world of job opportunities, culture, art, literature, theatre, cinema opens up for you.

Its like saying that sports or music lessons are a waste because you will rarely use it. LOL.

NP.

I think it’s good to be bilingual and plus, it can help later.

Our kid is still a toddler but she’s going to be bilingual in my wife’s language (it’s an Asian language). She talks with DD and she understands it ok.

Not wasting our Saturdays (plus all that $$) on an unnecessary language school. Some of you folks seem kinda over the top, TBH.

Careful, your kid is a toddler.

Once she hits school, she'll end up like me. I can understand rudimentary heritage language but am by no means bilingual.

Unless you actively pursue the language, she will lose it. That's usually how it works out. Not saying you should. My parents didn't and I have no regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are bilingual and take our home in high school at one level higher than most peers and are doing well. Our friends, also with bilingual kids, enrolled their children in a Saturday language school, where the kids get what is essentially a second high school diploma from the home country. This has allowed their children to take a different language in school, meaning their kids are trilingual and they have a truly impressive extracurricular that shows commitment (the language school is intense) and has shaped their children’s entire narrative (the kid volunteered for a summer in the home country, has an internship next summer with an developing markets investment firm focusing on a part of the world using our language, etc.

I’m just kicking myself because if I had thought through this 10 years ago, I feel my child would be in a much better position college application wise. These friends had asked if we would be interested in doing the Saturday school with them, but it conflicted with sports and travel and our kid plays hs soccer but certainly isn’t going to get recruited.

Just a vent, but feeling like my past self let my high schooler down.

I think it is a good cautionary tale. Immigrants should make a serious attempt to make sure that their kids do not lose their native language. Mastery in the native language will open opportunities for them for rest of their lives.

When non-English speakers become American citizens, they should strive for double benefit of getting the best of the American experience and getting the best of their country of origin experience. That way they are in a position to give to themselves and also this country. Don't lose your natural heritage.

It doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. You kid is likely to rarely us it.

I completely disagree. Being fluent in other languages means that a whole new world of job opportunities, culture, art, literature, theatre, cinema opens up for you.

Its like saying that sports or music lessons are a waste because you will rarely use it. LOL.

Historically maybe. But today in 2025? Not a chance. Have you travelled abroad in the past 20 years? I’ve lived in 3 countries and visited >100 - most places I go speak English. Maybe some small villages in South America you will need Spanish - same with small town Germany (less so, and mostly amongst the elderly). Most European, African, and many Asian countries speak English. India, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, etc. the business language is mostly English. I’ve never had a problem in shops or at restaurants. In Africa, there are still some places where French is the business language and these places can be a bit more difficult - but I seriously doubt you are traveling there to explore museums and culture. I travelled there for work.