MoCo Elementary School Language Immersion Programs

Anonymous
Can anyone comment on the Chinese, Spanish and/or French immersion programs in Montgomery County? If you're in or have applied, I'd appreciate knowing your experiences with the application process and the actual programs.

Thanks
Anonymous
There's an older thread out there on this. I'd like to know more about Chinese Immersion. I understand there's a program at Potomac, but apparently it ends in 5th grade and there doesn't seem to be any follow-up until regular Mandarin classes for beginners in high school.

Do you have to go private to get Chinese Immersion?
Anonymous
My son is a kindergartner at Rock Creek Forest, which is full Spanish Immersion. It is just terrific. He loves it, already understands a lot, speaks with a perfect accent, is starting to read in Spanish, etc. We have been very impressed with the teachers and the administration, and by how well they keep parents informed. The PTA is extremely active. I just don't have a bad word to say about it. It is, however, very difficult to get into. We just lucked out. It's a lottery and I think typically they let in 20 - 30 students out of around 200. The other 20 to 30 kindergarten slots are usually filled by siblings.

If you are really interested in immersion programs, I would apply to all of them. We applied to RCF, Sligo Creek (the French one, where we were like 80th on the waitlist), Rolling Terrace (partial Spanish) and Burnt Mills (partial Spanish). We were wait-listed at those as well, but got in off those wait-lists over the summer. The Chinese ones were just too far away for us. Our son would've had a 45 minute bus-ride each way. Go to all of the Open Houses, keep an open mind, and be mindful of how far away you live from each of the schools. That would be my advice. I think learning any language at such a young age is a wonderful thing. I didn't have an opportunity to try and learn one until high school, and I found it terribly difficult by then.
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