Yu Ying vs. John Thomson

[Anonymous]

can anyone compare these two schools? Why would you or did you pick one over the other? I assume you wanted the Chinese language instruction in some form. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Current John Thomson parent here - it's a great little school with a principal who creates a safe space for kids to learn. It's an established school, and isn't going anywhere soon. Very diverse student body, both economically and racially. Nice security guards who know your kid by name, good teachers who are happy to be at work. Principal teaches the kids to play guitar. Need more info?

[Anonymous]

I was considering Thomson but the commute to and from school worries me. What is the best way to get to Thomson with your little?? Is there a drop off spot??

[Anonymous]

They are very different schools.

Thompson (http://thomsonelementary.org/) is a DCPS PK - 5 elementary school. In addition to the standard DCPS curriculum, it offers music instruction and some Chinese lessons. It is a friendly introduction to some Chinese vocabulary and may inspire your child to pursue studying Chinese later on. It has a convenient downtown location and some excellent government and business partnerships. It is among DC's oldest public schools and is an up and coming DCPS school.

Washington Yu Ying (http://www.washingtonyuying.org/) is a charter school, PK - 8. It is among a dozen or so schools in the entire country which offers a Mandarin Immersion curriculum. The aim for the children to be bilingual and bi-literate in Mandarin by the time they graduate. They are taught Chinese by native Chinese speakers. Furthermore, it combines the Chinese instruction with the International Baccalaureate PYP and MYP programmes. It has won some grants already and will surely win more. It is among DC's newest charter schools and aims to be the premier Mandarin language school for the Washington region.

If you are interested in Chinese language, why not check them both out? They're both great schools, but they serve different populations and have different goals. With the rising importance of China on the world stage, there's more than room for two schools in DC to teach Mandarin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are very different schools.

Thompson (http://thomsonelementary.org/) is a DCPS PK - 5 elementary school. In addition to the standard DCPS curriculum, it offers music instruction and some Chinese lessons. It is a friendly introduction to some Chinese vocabulary and may inspire your child to pursue studying Chinese later on. It has a convenient downtown location and some excellent government and business partnerships. It is among DC's oldest public schools and is an up and coming DCPS school.

Washington Yu Ying (http://www.washingtonyuying.org/) is a charter school, PK - 8. It is among a dozen or so schools in the entire country which offers a Mandarin Immersion curriculum. The aim for the children to be bilingual and bi-literate in Mandarin by the time they graduate. They are taught Chinese by native Chinese speakers. Furthermore, it combines the Chinese instruction with the International Baccalaureate PYP and MYP programmes. It has won some grants already and will surely win more. It is among DC's newest charter schools and aims to be the premier Mandarin language school for the Washington region.

If you are interested in Chinese language, why not check them both out? They're both great schools, but they serve different populations and have different goals. With the rising importance of China on the world stage, there's more than room for two schools in DC to teach Mandarin.

This is the most useful, thoughtful, constructive, non-snarky, and unbiased post that I have EVER seen on these school forums. Not the OP, but thank you!!

[Anonymous]

There is a drop-off area on L street in front of the school.

[Anonymous]

OP here, yes, thank you. We're going to look at both. My concern is that neither my DH or I speak Mandarin. From what I read about Thomson, there are a lot of Asian students. Is that the same with Yu Ying? Would my child be a great disadvantage? All the other parents we know want Spanish as their second language. We're just trying to figure out what language is best? Can I ask, why did you choose Chinese?

[Anonymous]

Chinese lessons aside, how does Thomson compare to Ross Elementary near Dupont? That is another option for a nearby OOB school. I'm intrigued by Yu Ying, but don't want to have to drive my child crosstown everyday and then have to get to work. Anyone know if Yu Ying is staying in Brookland or will they eventually move to a different location?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yes, thank you. We're going to look at both. My concern is that neither my DH or I speak Mandarin. From what I read about Thomson, there are a lot of Asian students. Is that the same with Yu Ying? Would my child be a great disadvantage? All the other parents we know want Spanish as their second language. We're just trying to figure out what language is best? Can I ask, why did you choose Chinese?

Both schools have a significantly higher than average number of Asian students, but neither school has anything close to an Asian majority. This being DC, Asians just aren't as large a demographic; but the Asians that are here are expressing strong interest in both schools which speaks well for them.

Would your child be at a disadvantage? Personally, I don't think so but maybe it depends upon how we frame advantage or disadvantage. Let me put it another way: if your goal for your child were to be genuinely interested in, say, French - so much so that in later life he would take this early language gift and make a real personal advantage of it - wouldn't you want to surround him with as much French language, French families, French speakers, French culture, French food, French films, etc. as possible? Wouldn't this make French more like a fun cultural exploration and integrated part of his life vs. a dry academic subject at school? So, this is how I look at studying Chinese, more Chinese exposure and Chinese playmates and Chinese culture makes the experience richer and more rewarding for the student.

At both schools, the administration is aware that the majority of their students don't come from primarily Mandarin speaking households, so there will have to be allowances for this in the curriculum and homework. Thompson probably has a more limited Chinese homework expectation given the amount of Chinese instruction and the fact that their oldest students are 5th graders. Yu Ying will probably have more intense Chinese homework as the students age into it (right now the oldest students are in 1st grade). They will probably have to offer Mandarin study hall after school or find some way to accommodate their requirements.

I have a personal interest in China, however I believe there are excellent reasons to study either or both languages (Mandarin and Spanish). I genuinely wish to see both schools succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chinese lessons aside, how does Thomson compare to Ross Elementary near Dupont? That is another option for a nearby OOB school. I'm intrigued by Yu Ying, but don't want to have to drive my child crosstown everyday and then have to get to work. Anyone know if Yu Ying is staying in Brookland or will they eventually move to a different location?

Ross has significantly higher test scores than Thompson. This probably reflects its wealthier population to some degree (it's a Ward 2 school, after all).

Yu Ying is definitely moving out of their temporary space, but the specific destination is still unknown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yes, thank you. We're going to look at both. My concern is that neither my DH or I speak Mandarin. From what I read about Thomson, there are a lot of Asian students. Is that the same with Yu Ying? Would my child be a great disadvantage? All the other parents we know want Spanish as their second language. We're just trying to figure out what language is best? Can I ask, why did you choose Chinese?

I think that Thomson and YuYing are both excellent schools. We chose YuYing for our current first grader. Most of the children in his class had little or no exposure to Chinese before they started at the school. My thought on the subject is that I want him to be fluent in a language (preferably one spoken by a large percentage of the world's population) before he enters college and why not have him learn a language that is very different from English. It will make learning any other language easy. I speak Spanish fluently and so Spanish might be a more obvious choice for my child, but I really love the IB curriculum, the teachers and Chinese. My son also loves that he knows something that I don't know. Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

I suspect that most of the folks reading this board already know this, but there's an open house at Thomson tomorrow (Thursday, 3/5) at 9:15 AM, and one at Yu Ying next Monday (3/9) at 6:00 PM.

[Anonymous]

Thomson's Asian population is 22%, the highest in DCPS. Those students are, for the most part, native speakers of Chinese. Many of the children are trilingual, Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

[Anonymous]

Thomson is an IB school too.

[Anonymous]

We attended the Yu Ying school open house. They said about 5-7% of the students have Mandarin at home. Speaking with some Chinese families they still have concerns that not enough is known about Yu Ying's overall academics (as it is so new). Many of them would rather send the kids to the best schools they can find and supplement the Mandarin on the weekends (how it is done for many Chinese families in the DC area). However it was a pretty impressive tour and I think as more Chinese families enter and word of mouth spreads you'll see a great percentage of Asian students at Yu Ying.