Advice needed re: language classes for a 5 year old

[Anonymous]

My daughter started kindergarten this fall and I've been looking into putting her into Korean language classes, as she is a Korean adoptee. I found a 2 hour Saturday class that's one hour of language instruction and one hour of either cooking or arts/crafts, and seems less rigorous than other Korean classes I've found. Her best friend (also Korean, but not adopted) also enrolled. This is a semester-long class and while less rigorous, still has some homework and the instructor said it's helpful, but not necessary, to have a Korean speaker at home.

My concern is that this might be too much commitment and scheduling for kid who just started kindergarten and who will behind the curve somewhat not having a native speaker at home (while her best friend's family isn't fluent, they do have a fair amount of knowledge of the language and would obviously be in a much better position to help than I would be). On the other hand, it would be great for her to see her best friend weekly since they are in different schools and is it better for her to be exposed now before she really starts with real homework in 1st grade, etc.?

Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I would try for the fall & if she hates it then don't sign up in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would try for the fall & if she hates it then don't sign up in the spring.

agree. this sounds really low key. OP, I think you need to manage your expectations. It sounds like your real goal is exposure with fluency a bonus, not fluency itself. Just keep it fun.

[Anonymous]

This post made me think of this cooking show:

http://www.pbs.org/food/shows/kimchi-chronicles/

The host is an U.S. adoptee born in Korea. I found it entertaining.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Fluency definitely isn't a goal! Exposure is, though, and I figured it would be something fun for us to do together, as much as possible, as I'm also a Korean adoptee.


The other two things are that it's pretty expensive for us at $640 for the semester and that they discourage missing class, so it's definitely more of a commitment (and we already have at least two weekends we'll be out of town and would have to do a make up class).

[Anonymous]

I guess you'll have to weigh the opportunity against the expense.

(As a side note, if you're looking to brush up on your Korean, Hulu (or maybe it's Hulu+) has a lot of Korean dramas online. You can turn the subtitles on or off. Some of them are actually pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PPs that this sounds pretty low key. What's the make up of the rest of the class in terms of having someone at home who speaks Korean?

Not sure where you are but I think very few people in the K class at the Korean school in Rockville have parents who speak Korean so that might be something to consider if the other school doesn't work out. I believe there are many adoptees at the school and many children who are half Korean and their Korean-American parent doesn't speak Korean at home (or in a number of cases, at all).

[Anonymous]

If your dd just started K, then I wouldn't put her in two hours of class on Saturday too. If it were me, I would wait until Spring when she is used to K.