Sp or Ch language?

[Anonymous]

at least Yu Ying is a start of a really great idea that gives students exposure to Chinese language and culture....Just too bad that aren't any "ABCs" to make it better....Stop critizing and make a difference....But then you pulled your kids out or avoided it all together.....

[Anonymous]

DC also just got into MV and YY off the waitlist, and we're thinking along these lines too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course Spanish is more useful than Chinese, but I think a lot of parents are attracted to the perceived academic rigor of Chinese and Yu Ying. There is no doubt that studying any second language as a child will enhance his or her ability to learn any language later in life.

It could be argued that Spanish is a relatively easy language for English speakers to learn, so a child would benefit more from early experiences with a more difficult language such as Chinese or Russian. These can be really difficult for English speakers to master later.

This was our thinking as well. It's a given that Chinese, English, and Spanish are going to be the most important languages of the future. This isn't just about economics, it's about demographics. The second most common language on the internet after English is Chinese (which is not surprising, considering that 1 in 4 people on the planet speak Chinese, and their economic impact is growing). That isn't going to change unless someone wipes China off the map (which won't be us, since they're going to be our financial overlords). That said, as an American today, it's largely more practical on the streets to speak Spanish, and that trend will only increase.

In the end, we chose Chinese. It's one of the hardest languages for English-speakers to learn, whereas Spanish is the easiest. If DS can master Mandarin, we're confident he can master Spanish. Also, now that we know all the immersion schools are working on an Immersion/International Bac MS/HS, we think he can pick up Spanish as a 3rd language easily.

Again, that was our thinking. YMMV. In the end, you're better off with either Chinese or Spanish than anything else (especially including the vanilla "we-don't-care-about-globalism" English-only).

[Anonymous]

So people prefer Spanish so that their kids will better be able to communicate with their day care providers, housekeepers, and other Spanish speakers.

And Chinese folks don't like Yu Ying because they don't get a preference in admissions.

Funny what you learn on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

No...sounds like Chinese folks don't want to be the only ones at a predominantly BLACK school....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No...sounds like Chinese folks don't want to be the only ones at a predominantly BLACK school....

? YY isn't predominantly black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So people prefer Spanish so that their kids will better be able to communicate with their day care providers, housekeepers, and other Spanish speakers.

And Chinese folks don't like Yu Ying because they don't get a preference in admissions.

Funny what you learn on DCUM.

Hee hee!! So true!
Not only that, but I'm pretty sure ABC parent's forefathers came to America, learned to speak English, probably spoke it imperfectly and with an accent, but guess what? I bet they were still able to communicate effectively and with the expectation that people would understand they were not native speakers and would therefore not make fun of them!
ABC woman, do you realize how you sound? Are you seriously saying that if people can't learn to speak a language with a perfect accent they should never try at all?? Sheesh!

[Anonymous]

And OP: it's language IMMERSION, not "emersion". Perhaps you should just focus on English.....But seriously. Doesn't sound like you've done your parental due diligence in terms of researching schools before applying to them. I don't think Chinese is for you....

[Anonymous]

OP,
Language aside, YY and MV seem like very different schools. Expeditionary vs. IB, locations, first year MV vs. a few years for YY. I assume ethnic and SES demographics, and percentage of parents who speak target language, are quite different as well. There's also the backup question. If MV were to close, there are several other DCPS and charter Spanish options. YY is the only program of it's kind in DC.

Ultimately, if your family speaks only English, you will have to put in lots of extra effort and maybe money to ensure your child can speak, read and write any second language. There are plenty of English-only parents at our bilingual Spanish school who struggle to keep up with homework or whose kids don't stay past third grade from lack of interest or out of school support.

Which would you pick if they were the same languages?

[Anonymous]

Hee hee!! So true! ABC woman, do you realize how you sound? Are you seriously saying that if people can't learn to speak a language with a perfect accent they should never try at all?? Sheesh!

I'm a guy actually. We're not against YY, we simply didn't want to stay at an immersion school where we, and our bilingual kid, were the odd ones out. We don't care how we sound, we just go quietly about the business of teaching our kid about our language and culture, like Diaspora Chinese all over the world.

It's hardly a crime to respect one's cultural traditions to the point where one isn't comfortable in an immersion school setting without Chinese administrators, many other parents or kids. My brother sends his kids to an immersion school in NYC's Chinatown where he is comfortable (and where his kids don't have the perfect accent, like mine).

It's just wasn't a lot of fun to be approached by one parent after another who wanted to draw on our cultural knowledge when we turned up at our kid's school, and often got defensive about the fact that so few other bilingual kids were there. We found the scene tiring and strange, but surely wouldn't have if we weren't Chinese. Being around parents who think that they know a good deal about Chinese culture, generally because they spent several weeks in China picking up an adopted baby girl, got old for us. But we certainly don't consider ourselves representative of every ABC family who's tried YY.

Maybe the poster who started this thread (clearly not Chinese) would like school, most parents do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Hee hee!! So true! ABC woman, do you realize how you sound? Are you seriously saying that if people can't learn to speak a language with a perfect accent they should never try at all?? Sheesh!

I'm a guy actually. We're not against YY, we simply didn't want to stay at an immersion school where we, and our bilingual kid, were the odd ones out. We don't care how we sound, we just go quietly about the business of teaching our kid about our language and culture, like Diaspora Chinese all over the world.

It's hardly a crime to respect one's cultural traditions to the point where one isn't comfortable in an immersion school setting without Chinese administrators, many other parents or kids. My brother sends his kids to an immersion school in NYC's Chinatown where he is comfortable (and where his kids don't have the perfect accent, like mine).

It's just wasn't a lot of fun to be approached by one parent after another who wanted to draw on our cultural knowledge when we turned up at our kid's school, and often got defensive about the fact that so few other bilingual kids were there. We found the scene tiring and strange, but surely wouldn't have if we weren't Chinese. Being around parents who think that they know a good deal about Chinese culture, generally because they spent several weeks in China picking up an adopted baby girl, got old for us. But we certainly don't consider ourselves representative of every ABC family who's tried YY.

Maybe the poster who started this thread (clearly not Chinese) would like school, most parents do.



"Like"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Hee hee!! So true! ABC woman, do you realize how you sound? Are you seriously saying that if people can't learn to speak a language with a perfect accent they should never try at all?? Sheesh!

I'm a guy actually. We're not against YY, we simply didn't want to stay at an immersion school where we, and our bilingual kid, were the odd ones out. We don't care how we sound, we just go quietly about the business of teaching our kid about our language and culture, like Diaspora Chinese all over the world.

It's hardly a crime to respect one's cultural traditions to the point where one isn't comfortable in an immersion school setting without Chinese administrators, many other parents or kids. My brother sends his kids to an immersion school in NYC's Chinatown where he is comfortable (and where his kids don't have the perfect accent, like mine).

It's just wasn't a lot of fun to be approached by one parent after another who wanted to draw on our cultural knowledge when we turned up at our kid's school, and often got defensive about the fact that so few other bilingual kids were there. We found the scene tiring and strange, but surely wouldn't have if we weren't Chinese. Being around parents who think that they know a good deal about Chinese culture, generally because they spent several weeks in China picking up an adopted baby girl, got old for us. But we certainly don't consider ourselves representative of every ABC family who's tried YY.

Maybe the poster who started this thread (clearly not Chinese) would like school, most parents do.

Wow. What a snob. Glad you're going away to quietly educate your kid about your language and culture in isolation.

[Anonymous]

Wow. What a snob. Glad you're going away to quietly educate your kid about your language and culture in isolation.

Hardly. There's a good-sized Chinese community in the Metro area, centered in Rockville, that does all sorts of things, just not at YY. We also get involved in China-oriented events at our IB school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No...sounds like Chinese folks don't want to be the only ones at a predominantly BLACK school....

Now everyone knows that you know absolutely crap about YY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. What a snob. Glad you're going away to quietly educate your kid about your language and culture in isolation.

Hardly. There's a good-sized Chinese community in the Metro area, centered in Rockville, that does all sorts of things, just not at YY. We also get involved in China-oriented events at our IB school.

Great you're ABC and part of ABC culture... I'm the other Asian person, born and raised partially there, at the beginning of the thread. Have many ABC friends but have no desire to have DC learn from ABCs. You know you are not considered "Chinese" by those born and raised in China but Americans - and no matter what you want to believe, your accent is "off".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. What a snob. Glad you're going away to quietly educate your kid about your language and culture in isolation.

Hardly. There's a good-sized Chinese community in the Metro area, centered in Rockville, that does all sorts of things, just not at YY. We also get involved in China-oriented events at our IB school.

Great you're ABC and part of ABC culture... I'm the other Asian person, born and raised partially there, at the beginning of the thread. Have many ABC friends but have no desire to have DC learn from ABCs. You know you are not considered "Chinese" by those born and raised in China but Americans - and no matter what you want to believe, your accent is "off".
I knew this was going to devolve into a pissing match of who's more Asian, but I think the PP above who would like more ethnic Chinese in a Chinese immersion school has a good point.

My family is Russian. My DS is in a Russian-language preschool, where business is conducted entirely in Russian. About 75% of kids are Russian, the other quarter are American with some sort of family connection to mutterland. All teachers are native Russians. And that's why they have my business. If there was an odd American teacher there (in addition to a dozen Russian ones) who happened to be fluent in Russian and our culture, I may have considered it. But to have DS in a ostensibly Russian preschool where the overwhelming majority of personnel speak foreign-accented Russian and don't know the culture natively? Nyet. May as well do Bright Horizons.