Bilingual Kids in Language Immersion ES Programs, Which Programs Have Many & Strive to Attract Them?

[Anonymous]

^Absolutely true. The Chinese culturally are insular and tribal. Probably hard for Americans to understand but other immigrants from anywhere not so hard. The exact same way the Serbs and Croats don't get along, the Chinese and Japanese have been at each other's throats, etc.

Americans look at race. The rest of the world looks at nationality and even which town/province you are from for allegiances. China is a Confucian and ancestor worshipping culture so any foreign blood brands you as non-Chinese even if you and your family have been living in China for generations. The Japanese and Koreans are the same. Lovely attitude to cater to, right?

[Anonymous]

Hitler's got competition. Sounds like there's more channeling of him than Confucius with this scenario. So, essentially, trying to cater is a waste of time, but not catering is a waste of time too. WWCD (What Would Confucius Do)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
College friend has blue chip MA in East Asian studies. Perfect Mandarin, learned from a young age and years of experience in China. Also speaks a dialect and has lovely personality, could do outreach locally.

Having read a half-dozen of your posts today, I actually think that if she's friends with you, it's safe to say her personality is far from lovely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is such BS. A college friend, a kick ass admin at a W. Coast Mandarin immersion school, and a dialect speaker, has responded to YY's advertisements for admins several times. S/he has family in the MD burbs Chinese community and is eager to relocate. S/he gets nowhere. Just an anecdote,right, but where's the evidence that YY does its damdest to find Chinese-speaking admins, let alone an ethnic one?

I don't doubt this in the least. All of the applications funnel through one very young woman who, amongst other things, typically doesn't even entertain applicants with US degrees. If the applications do not pass her review then they never see the light of day on the admin desks.

Interesting. I know a Mandarin speaker, an excellent teacher with 12 plus years teaching in the US, who was offered a classroom assistant position.

Do you think this is a way to keep power over all these young, inexperienced teachers who need the YY job to stay in the country? Of course the track record for hiring English teachers is equally bizarre. It's as if they only consider teachers with zero experience. The leading class has never had a teacher with more than 2 or 3 years of experience. Oh how it shows!

That hasn't been our experience at all. We've been genuinely impressed with the teachers we've had. The leading edge class has always been something of an odd duck though, and much more different from and difficult than the others - behaviorally and academically.

Deftly done. Nice way to take a dig at a bunch of 11 year olds when it's pretty clear to anyone who has set foot in the school that the problem lies with the adults. People don't hate the admin at Yu Ying because of their race. They hate them because they are weak educators and are nasty and defensive.

[Anonymous]

***I have no idea how you could think anything I wrote is racist. I was just stating information about how well the head of school spoke Chinese. I couldn't care less about her race as long as she does a good job. That is my primary concern. Furthermore, there are 3 administrators at YY, none of whom are "mandarin" as you suggest: one AA head of school, one white COO and one white assistant principal. The former COO (different title then) is white and speaks Chinese. She is now working on the DCI and has no hand in the daily operations of YY. The bi-racial AA/Chinese person you speak of is a grant writer and is part of the development department. There is a Chinese program coordinator who appears to also be kindergarten classroom teacher at this time (according the the school's private portal). Interestingly, she is from Guangzhou. The person who screens all the applicants lives in another state, but she is a Taiwan native.***

The principal doesn't speak much Chinese other than good morning, good bye, etc. Her bigger problem is she can't relate to her Chinese-speaking teachers who believe she's not fit for the job. She knows it, too and it show. So painful to watch.

The grant writer speaks excellent Chinese and is well respected. Not sure how she feels about being labeled non-Chinese because of her AA root. But I suspect that she's been dealing with it all her life. She's married to a light-skinned AA.

The Chinese program coordinator is Cantonese and speaks Mandarin with a Cantonese accent which means her pronunciations are off. How ironic with this dialect debate. BTW, this job is way over her head. She has become the principal's puppet and is universally HATED by the Chinese teachers after getting this job. It is well known that she and her friend, another teacher who got her here, are arch enemies now.

The former COO speaks poor Chinese and has a bad rap among staff, teachers and parents.

[Anonymous]

Thank you 9:29 for boldly stating what I was too sheepish to say outright. Everything you said is precisely what I have experienced. The Chinese teachers have no real leadership but yet they would benefit from lots of intensive guidance to make a successful transition to US education. Leadership just isn't there. Until the board of trustees takes a look at teacher and parent satisfaction and implements a legitimate performance review the head of school will continue to employ people who don't threaten her lack of fit for the job. Again, as PP said, it is painful to watch.

[Anonymous]

Yes, 9:29. You summed it up quite neatly. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

It's amazing what I learn from DCUM about the school DC attends. This is all new stuff I have never heard but we are in the lower grades and there is very little interaction between the lower grades (preK and K) and the other grades.
The clueless lower grade parents seem very happy with the school overall at least that's been my impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WTF is the big deal with catering to native speakers of the target language? Why can't charters be amended to allow for preference of native speakers? Other than kids who can't get in due to the preference would be up in arms and kids already in would be happy as kids in slop. What's the big deal? Any plans for any of these charters being sneaky to go legit?

Because for the 1,000th time, it is against the charter law. You'll need to take that up with the people who pass the laws. Yu Ying has tried twice, unsuccessfully. Perhaps regular citizens/voters would have more luck with the City Council, as schools are considered to have their own interests and agendas. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the powers-that-be perceive language-preference to be a special advantage to those with resources, and something which would limit the opportunities of the lower SES students of the city. It would give them a hurdle to clear, or a relative disadvantage, which was not the purpose in passing the charter legislation. Again, that is only my guess. I'm sure we'd all be grateful if you do some research on that, and see what you can change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is such BS. A college friend, a kick ass admin at a W. Coast Mandarin immersion school, and a dialect speaker, has responded to YY's advertisements for admins several times. S/he has family in the MD burbs Chinese community and is eager to relocate. S/he gets nowhere. Just an anecdote,right, but where's the evidence that YY does its damdest to find Chinese-speaking admins, let alone an ethnic one?

I don't doubt this in the least. All of the applications funnel through one very young woman who, amongst other things, typically doesn't even entertain applicants with US degrees. If the applications do not pass her review then they never see the light of day on the admin desks.

Interesting. I know a Mandarin speaker, an excellent teacher with 12 plus years teaching in the US, who was offered a classroom assistant position.

Do you think this is a way to keep power over all these young, inexperienced teachers who need the YY job to stay in the country? Of course the track record for hiring English teachers is equally bizarre. It's as if they only consider teachers with zero experience. The leading class has never had a teacher with more than 2 or 3 years of experience. Oh how it shows!

That hasn't been our experience at all. We've been genuinely impressed with the teachers we've had. The leading edge class has always been something of an odd duck though, and much more different from and difficult than the others - behaviorally and academically.

Deftly done. Nice way to take a dig at a bunch of 11 year olds when it's pretty clear to anyone who has set foot in the school that the problem lies with the adults. People don't hate the admin at Yu Ying because of their race. They hate them because they are weak educators and are nasty and defensive.

Or we don't hate them at all. Some of us admire the remarkable project that they took on and accomplished in such a short amount of time.

Bear in mind that you speak for only for yourself, and even then you hide behind anonymity. Your warnings and admonishments carry the appropriate amount of weight to reflect that.

[Anonymous]

One of the preK Chinese teachers, "friend" of the program coordinator, has the longest tenure. Maybe 5 years. The rest of the Chinese teachers, for most of them this is their 1st job out of school. Turnover is high, considering their survival depending on the job-- most of them need a visa status so they can stay in America. The ones who can't leave YY are pretty miserable because of the toxic environment created by YY admin & the inept Chinese program coordinator. Oftentimes the entire grade teachers are gone by the time school starts in the fall. Some leave after just half semester.

Now you really have to feel for these young teachers who desperately need leadership, coaching & mentoring which they're getting none of.

[Anonymous]

Really? None of my DC teachers left in the middle of the year and DC chinese teacher and assistant teacher are still at the school.

[Anonymous]

They're the ones who can't afford to leave. They need the visa.

[Anonymous]

Yes I noticed at least one of the PreK teachers bios says she has been teaching PreK for one year. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're the ones who can't afford to leave. They need the visa.

So those teachers can't leave but what about you? Why do you (and kid(s)) stay at a school that you obvious dislike and have so many issues with?