any parents of YY students already speak mandarin?

[Anonymous]

I'm not trying to be a troll, truly, but I'm starting to wonder, after all the discussions on this (although I know I shouldn't believe everything, or even most things, I read on DCUM). Our DC has been accepted and we intend to go but we're starting to wonder if there are ANY other families going whose kids already speak some Mandarin (our child mostly understands it, generally responds in English but will respond to Chinese and say short phrases in Chinese). Those in K and higher, do you at least half one or two families in your classroom who speak the language at home?

I noticed during the tour that kids responded to teachers in English a lot of the time. Maybe it was only the lower grades but I suspect it's harder to get kids to use Chinese as they get older, not easier.

[Anonymous]

What grade have you been accepted to? In our PreK classroom there's one truly bilingual kid and a couple more where one parent speaks Mandarin at least somewhat, maybe not writing though.

Lots of mixed-heritage families and many who speak Chinese as a second language.

[Anonymous]

Rising 1st grade parent. In each of my son's 2 classes, we've had at least 2 (out of 18) kids who have at least one parent who speaks Mandarin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising 1st grade parent. In each of my son's 2 classes, we've had at least 2 (out of 18) kids who have at least one parent who speaks Mandarin.

Maybe, but the kids aren't bilingual. There's really only 1 or 2 per grade that are fully bilingual, in any dialect. I find that many of the Chinese parents aren't teaching their kids much Chinese at home. Not that it matters, given the 1-way immersion model YY uses.

[Anonymous]

OP here. thanks. DC is not bilingual either, but neither am I (learned chinese later but didn't speak it growing up), so it's comforting to know there are at least a sprinkling of families out there who can speak it or support language strongly at home. And hopefully help out other families in the in the class, too.

I know people are a little freaked out by not being able to understand the language your kid is going to school in but (a) you are getting half english, so you're really not out of the loop and (b) tens of millions of immigrant parents deal with this all the time and their kids still can excel. Encouraging and supporting your kid is 90% of the battle, in my view.

[Anonymous]

upper grade, wife is native speaker, children grew up speaking both. Offhand I can name sever other native speaker parents (both parents, or one parent).

Lots of parents have some connection to China at Yu Ying.

[Anonymous]

What do the native Chinese speakers say about the quality of the language ability of their peers at school?

[Anonymous]

I'm a K parent. I am fluent in Mandarin, but am not Chinese. (I studied in college and lived in China and Taiwan for many years.) We don't speak Chinese at home in daily conversation, but my background is very helpful as I support DC's language acquisition.

Like a previous poster said, a lot of parents have at least some connection to China, although it may not always be family ties.

I've been very happy with DC's language abilities. It's been amazing to watch, and seems a very joyful process. DC speaks only Chinese w the Chinese teacher in my observation.

[Anonymous]

Several people have some kind of connections to China. It ddoesn't mean they speak Mandarin. The ones do their tones are pretty off and the grammar isn't that good either. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

^Troll, troll! Cantonese speaker, Cantonese speaker!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Troll, troll! Cantonese speaker, Cantonese speaker!

I assume what you're trying to say is this is THE "Cantonese speaker troll", and not that someone who speaks Cantonese is automatically a troll... Right?

[Anonymous]

6:04, you really are making a fool of yourself. I had to laugh at your enthusiasm. You should try parking yourself at a Cantonese restaurant and share your pix with us. Wait, spare us. No, I don't speak a lick of Cantonese.

[Anonymous]

There are two Mandarin speaking parents in my child's K class. Not married to each other. I can't judge the quality of their Mandarin since I don't know it.

Just b/c the kids have a Mandarin speaking parent does not mean that the kids speak Mandarin at home. This is normal and all kids do it even kids who are completely bilingual. I am bilingual, English is my second language, and I do this with my parents and I'm in my forties: They speak to me in our native language and I answer back in English.

Expressive language (speaking) is a completely different process, active, from receptive language (understanding), which is a passive process. It's just easier to speak the language of the culture. However, when I'm in my native country, I speak my native language - much easier to do this than speak English. I think people who are not bilingual and did not learn a second language as young children have trouble understanding the cultural pressures that influence language use.

[Anonymous]

In my child's class of 18 there are 2 kids who have at least one parent who is a native Mandarin speaker. There are other parents who have studied it as a second language and speak it well enough to provide support no only to their children, but also in the Chinese classroom.