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More media attention for Washington Yu Ying -
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Anonymous
Anonymous
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more at http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1590406&nid=25
Yu Ying is accepting applications for Pre-K, K, 1st, and 2nd. Learn more at an open house this Thursday at 6pm at the school. http://www.washingtonyuying.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=45 |
Anonymous
| Yawn |
Anonymous
Bitter. 
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Anonymous
Well aren't you obnoxious. If you're so bored, why not just skip the thread? What's up with needing to be so nasty regarding a school a lot of people are clearly excited about? It would kill you to just go away? Are you twelve? |
Anonymous
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Snark alert (very childish, I confess)
OK, we get it Yu Ying. There's such a thing as over-exposure. Great that you have so many boosters (or just a few very active ones), but if every school posted as much stuff as this one, there would be no other posts. A lingering question that never seems to be answered in the many profiles of a school that has yet to complete it's first year is this: How do parents who don't speak Mandarin actually know their preschoolers are learning the language after just a few weeks? I'm very pro-bilingual education and product of it myself. But it seems some of the views expressed by non-Chinese speaking parents might be a bit over optimistic. If they are relying on the school or other parents to validate language acquisition, well there's a natural conflict of interest there. It's not unique to Yu Ying, just saying it's something to bear in mind. I had been strongly considering Yu Ying but am now so saturated with coverage that it's probably the one non-English school we won't be applying to. It just sounds too good to be true. I do hope the school succeeds, but it would be great to see something other than one-sided cheerleading for the school. End of rant. sorry, couldn't help myself. I'm in school app overload. 
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Anonymous
You're right. You do sound childish. Over-exposure would be if the school were appearing on every media outlet - print, radio, and television - available in the DC media market so it seems that there's a long way to go before that threshold has been met. The school genuinely inspires a lot of curiosity and interest in a lot of people. It sounds like you're not one of them, so just don't pay attention. It's not that difficult. Your point of view notwithstanding, this hardly means that other parents who are in the middle of the school application process wouldn't really appreciate the information. Every third school thread on DCUM mentions either "the big three" and/or Mann/Murch/Janney et al so your "concern" that if every other school got the publicity of Yu Ying that there'd be no other threads rings a little hollow. DC schools have gotten such a bad rap for so long that it feels really good to have something new and special to be excited about, I think that has a lot to do with the interest the school has generated from the media as well as the parents. Eventually something will happen to make some parent unhappy enough to complain, after all no school is perfect. So far that doesn't seem to have happened, but it will. As for how parents who don't speak Mandarin know their children are learning Mandarin? It's pretty simple really - observe the child speaking Mandarin. When I pick up my child from school and the Chinese teacher is speaking in Chinese and the children are following her instructions and answering back in a language other than English, I have enough evidence in front of me to conclude that it is Mandarin. I suppose it could be Russian or Farsi or Greek, but even based on my minimal exposure it sounds to me like Mandarin Chinese. Good luck with the schools that do spark your interest. I hope you find one that excites both you and your child, and that you feel as positive about it as I feel about Yu Ying. |
Anonymous
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I will be applying for a spot next year at the school--I don't mind the frequent posts. I enjoyed the WTOP video.
PP, I hear you about "boosters" as you call them, but I think it is the nature of DCUM that a very limited crowd of people post. Perhaps for Yu YIng the parents most in love with the school are coincidentily the ones participating. It is wierd to me that you'd base a decision on NOT applying based on "oversaturation" in the media. When I tell people where I am applying to send my PreK student (entering lotteries at most of the good established charters and Yu Ying) the majority of parents have never even heard of Yu Ying. It is solely oversaturated here on the DCUM board. |
Anonymous
| Boy, people get so worked up! There's hardly saturation coverage/discussion of this school, and I don't think the school's being overhyped. How do you know that your kids are learning Mandarin? By the school's report cards home, written work, and observing your child. As the parent of a child in a public dual immersion school, it's great to see a school offering Mandarin immersion. Immersion's not perfect, but we've been very pleased with it. Snarky poster, to paraphrase Glenda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz, "Be gone or perhaps someone will drop a house on you too!" |
Anonymous
| Why is there such hate-o-rade and cynicism toward Yu Ying?? Is there a racial sentiment driving?? It seems so....It is wonderful to see a non-European based language and culture taking a foothold in America....Get used to it.... |
Anonymous
I don't think that it's racial animus. I have no opinions one way or another about the school, but I like bilingual immersion very much-- in fact my DS is going to Oyster. I think that what you're seeing is skepticism about the amount of hyping that goes on here. The school is brand new. It seems like a good idea but it's very new and there really are no measurable results yet. For the place to keep its charter and funding, it needs to attract people, and those who (laudably) love and support the place probably want to hype it in order to attract the next classes. But the thing is, "media attention" to Yu Ying isn't going to be about its outstanding results, because they're unclear at this time. I think that most people want to see the place succeed. But it will only succeed by succeeding. Not by self promoting. Patience is in order. |
Anonymous
| I think that to understand Yu Ying, parents must know the background of the staff and teachers. These folks weren't born yesterday. They have years of experience in immersion education and school structure. They have learned from others mistakes and implemented a great program. There's not going to be any problems with Yu Ying. Post 2/14 22:18, you may be correct. |
Anonymous
| people don't like it coz they can't say the school name right or with comfort. it's all about the name. it radiates exclusivity and distance, which is bad and will stay bad until China modernizes and democratizes and westernizes. |
Anonymous
| While Yu Ying may be as great a school as they promote themselves to be, I think that what people are reacting to is the marketing techniques of its boosters. We all know that you are working hard to promote the reputation of this very young school as one of the premier charters of DC. We know it is marketing. |
Anonymous
I think that the school is a good idea but it is absurd to say that just because the staff is experienced, "there's (sic) not going to be any problems with Yu Ying." It's a brand-new school. Accolades for a school with zero track record can only be read as either propoganda or prognostication. It's wonderful that kids have this choice, but I've seen no critical accolades by actual education experts. It's great that the school has experienced immersion teachers, but it is nonetheless a new institution with new management, new challenges of establishing itself. I hope that it succeeds. It will have succeeded when a class of students graduates to middle school well prepared for the next academic challenge, with good test scores, and a track record of remaining solvent over a period of years. A school's reputation must be earned, not simply declared and defended. If you follow this board, you'll see that Yu Ying is promoted and sold to parents at every turn as comparable to Mann, Key, Oyster, etc.. A more accurate and responsible representation is that it is a new option that appears to be promising. |