Yu Ying parents, what are the school pros and cons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here: I assume that what I am talking about with my DD is a product of the first few classes going through and them working out the bugs. If any third or fourth grade parents have different experiences it would be nice to get that perspective to add to mine. I don't want it to come out as a lopsided story if that's not the case!

Fourth grade parent here. It isn't just math that's a problem, but the language arts component for fourth grade is lacking when compared to what's required under common core. If DC does not get into Latin for next year, We are looking to send DC to private for middle school, and test-in for HS. We will attempt to keep up his Mandarin though the Hope School.

Why are you ruling out DCI?

[Anonymous]

What's the math curriculum at YY?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the math curriculum at YY?

There is no specific curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the math curriculum at YY?

There is no specific curriculum.

Huh? Not a schoolwide math curriculum like everyday math, Singapore math, envision math??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:K parent. So far we love the school. We don't have a Chinese tutor yet, but my child is doing very well in Mandarin so far and likes it a lot. I actually thought the math was kind of advanced, LOL, since they are already adding and subtracting in K, but I'm not a teacher! The YY parents get a lot of grief here on DCUM for being mean, but we have experienced the polar opposite. Parents are very friendly and interesting people, and we have made some wonderful friends already. We feel incredibly lucky to be at YY and plan to go the distance at DCI.

The kids are still adding (with carryover) and subtracting (with borrowing) in second grade. Just be sure that they are lining up the ones, tens and hundreds properly when they are doing problems bc the school is not emphasizing this and doing a lot of drills on worksheets which does not help with how to write down the problem.

You have to keep on top of what your kid is learning including the Chinese bc little "holes" like this are common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the math curriculum at YY?

There is no specific curriculum.

Huh? Not a schoolwide math curriculum like everyday math, Singapore math, envision math??

That is correct. They used to use Everyday Math, and I believe that is their official "story" but none of the teachers follow it directly because well, it is terrible. But it does fit with the IB PYP so at least there's that. I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another parent, I just want to speak to the question about whether everyone who enrolls their child should assume they'll have to pay for a Mandarin tutor at some point. We have a child who just started DCI this year, and we never ever used a tutor, and our child's Mandarin (according to both YY teachers last year and outside Chinese friends and acquaintances we have) is excellent. Tones and all. I do think different kids take to it at different rates, but we only know a few families who actually got a tutor at some point. Most did not, and it's worth asking the Admins what their official answer is to "What % of parents use tutors/outside Mandarin classes for their kids", but just from discussion with our fellow families, most do not use tutors.

You need to ask about reading and writing in Chinese. That's what most people use tutors for not speaking. Just bc the kid can speak well with perfect tones does not mean their reading and writing in Chinese are as good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another parent, I just want to speak to the question about whether everyone who enrolls their child should assume they'll have to pay for a Mandarin tutor at some point. We have a child who just started DCI this year, and we never ever used a tutor, and our child's Mandarin (according to both YY teachers last year and outside Chinese friends and acquaintances we have) is excellent. Tones and all. I do think different kids take to it at different rates, but we only know a few families who actually got a tutor at some point. Most did not, and it's worth asking the Admins what their official answer is to "What % of parents use tutors/outside Mandarin classes for their kids", but just from discussion with our fellow families, most do not use tutors.

You need to ask about reading and writing in Chinese. That's what most people use tutors for not speaking. Just bc the kid can speak well with perfect tones does not mean their reading and writing in Chinese are as good.

What evidence is there that upper grade kids at YY are not proficient at the expected level in writing and reading Chinese? Or what evidence is there that everyone is getting tutors for that at YY?

[Anonymous]

What evidence is there that graduating kids from YY are even in grade level in Chinese? When I went to the open house they said they do not do any formal testing in Chinese. There must be a standardized test for kids learning Chinese, no?

[Anonymous]

I do not have a child at YY, but when I think about whether to send my kid the biggest negative in my mind is that it sounds like kids with no sibling preference will have the best chance of getting in at kindergarten (when grade goes from 3 classrooms to 4) and at that point 3/4 of my kid's classmates will have had 2 years of immersion preschool and my kid would come in knowing no Chinese. So even if now many kids don't get tutors, being two years behind would likely mean my kid will need one. We can afford that, but I also wonder whether being two years behind will mess with his self-esteem. It also just seems like it will make it hard on the teachers to have kids had such different language levels.

[Anonymous]

15;39, they do assessments in Chinese. I think they developed the CIRCLE assessment. They also use the SOPA and others. So teachers and parents know where the kids stand. Maybe they meant the DC CAS is not in Chinese?

[Anonymous]

Well, how are their test scores so high? Sounds fishy to me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15;39, they do assessments in Chinese. I think they developed the CIRCLE assessment. They also use the SOPA and others. So teachers and parents know where the kids stand. Maybe they meant the DC CAS is not in Chinese?

Just googled CIRCLE. Looks like an early childhood skills assessment, not a Chinese one.

[Anonymous]

It was developed by the school using grant money.

[Anonymous]

SOPA looks legit.