Tell me about Chinese Immersion in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sending your kids to a Chinese immersion school when you don't speak a word yourself is clearly ludicrous. I am sure they drop out in High School because they move on to the next fad - they will be teaching them coding or Hindi.

Why?

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by coding? As in computer language? What is wrong with that? Why is that a fad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, agreed. Songs are great but my kids are in portables. Let's end the boondoggle immersion programs and hire more staff or expand buildings. If you want Chinese language education, pay for it privately after school or on the weekends.

Foreign language instruction in elementary schools is an extra that, if parents want it, they should have to pay for it privately? Only in the US.

I have no problem with immersion programs if they are available to all interested students. These aren't - only a select few can take advantage and that is what makes the program very unfair compared to other countries where all students are required to learn another language.

[Anonymous]

I strongly recommend visiting both College Gardens and Potomac, and talking to both ethnic and non-ethnic parents involved in the immersion programs, particularly PTA parents. We did that, after feeling alienated by the set-up at Yu Ying as a bilingual immigrant family (no ethnic or native speaking admins, hardly any bilingual kids etc.). Both of the MoCo programs seem to have more native speakers in the upper grades than lower, because MD allows native speakers (including Cantonese speakers) to test in to replace drop-outs while DC Charter does not. Even if you don't speak Mandarin, you'll quickly get a feel for how much more serious the MoCo programs are than YY about almost everything but the social aspect of the immersion education - math, English, Mandarin. We ultimately decided to stay in DC to work on Chinese at home with relatives, au pairs and wonderful weekend MoCo heritage language classes in our corner. Tough decision but not one we regret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I strongly recommend visiting both College Gardens and Potomac, and talking to both ethnic and non-ethnic parents involved in the immersion programs, particularly PTA parents. We did that, after feeling alienated by the set-up at Yu Ying as a bilingual immigrant family (no ethnic or native speaking admins, hardly any bilingual kids etc.). Both of the MoCo programs seem to have more native speakers in the upper grades than lower, because MD allows native speakers (including Cantonese speakers) to test in to replace drop-outs while DC Charter does not. Even if you don't speak Mandarin, you'll quickly get a feel for how much more serious the MoCo programs are than YY about almost everything but the social aspect of the immersion education - math, English, Mandarin. We ultimately decided to stay in DC to work on Chinese at home with relatives, au pairs and wonderful weekend MoCo heritage language classes in our corner. Tough decision but not one we regret.

I would like an update if possible... Did your children end up fluent and literate? Succeed on HS exams?

My DS enrolled in daily mandarin immersion since age 1 (we are native so-called romance language.peakers, i knew i had to start early for any real hope to achieve the above goals) and the more i research, the more i realize i will need to become best friends with a Chinese family in DC, or move to the west coast or overseas.

Unlike others, my main interest in Mandarin is for the ordered math and logical thinking tools. My chinese friends growing up were pushed by Tiger Moms yes... but they literally could think faster and more deeply about number problems. I am extremely impressed with China's public school structure (i believe in competition) and wish an area school would actually go for it.

[Anonymous]

Seems racist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You guys realize that Chinese is not a language...just saying....

Are you referring to Mandarin or Cantonese maybe?

Jeez... In China f you ask people what language they speak, they say "Zhong wen", or Chinese. They don't say Mandarin or Cantonese. Mandarin, or "Chinese," is the official language of China.