MCPS Spanish immersion schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I sense bitterness, sorry not sorry you're so annoyed. Let me guess, your child either didn't get in or you didn't realize there would be some out boundary riff-raff kids attrending when you paid for your house zoned for RCF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have kids in two different immersion programs. The first six months of kindergarten is ROUGH. Teachers start from day one in the target language. So get ready for a lot of meltdowns.

This is one difference from Oyster. Spanish proficiency isn't required so many kids are starting from scratch in K.

The lottery system is also different. RCF's wait list is long due to the number of registrants. The year we registered for the lottery, our wait list number was over 200.

[Anonymous]

Oyster better. Stay in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

+1 taking another student's seat. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

+1 taking another student's seat. Yuck.

I find this hard to believe. If you aren’t a native speaker, supporting your child in an immersion program is a lot of work. You really have to be committed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

+1 taking another student's seat. Yuck.

I find this hard to believe. If you aren’t a native speaker, supporting your child in an immersion program is a lot of work. You really have to be committed.

Well what do you think happens after the first year or even months in some cases...?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

+1 taking another student's seat. Yuck.

I find this hard to believe. If you aren’t a native speaker, supporting your child in an immersion program is a lot of work. You really have to be committed.

It definitely helps if you have familiarity with the language yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oyster better. Stay in DC.

Please do, so the immersion seat is not taken here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

We were perfectly happy with our home school but wanted our child to learn Spanish. It's a well regarded school. However, we withdrew because it became apparent that our child was at disadvantage by not being a native speaker. Major regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I don’t believe you have had “multiple families” articulate (haha) that they are using Spanish immersion to escape their own schools. I call BS.

Maybe they like the idea of having choices for middle school after immersion (home, Westland, SSI), but no one is choosing immersion for these reasons only. The classes are enormous! The teachers don’t stick around for very long. The local CC families are kind of jerky and jealous about the program.

Easily half of the immersion fifth grade class continues at Silver Spring International or goes back to their home middle school.

I have had kids in immersion and none of them continued to Westland/BCc- it was too far. But I loved that they got the exposure to Spanish!

The full immersion programs at RCF and Sligo creek are relics from a different time- the new model is dual immersion and it’s way better- they put it in schools where at least half of the kids are native speakers of the target language. The dual programs are great bc the native speakers of Spanish are the experts for half the day. I wish they’d been around when my kids were little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I don’t believe you have had “multiple families” articulate (haha) that they are using Spanish immersion to escape their own schools. I call BS.

Maybe they like the idea of having choices for middle school after immersion (home, Westland, SSI), but no one is choosing immersion for these reasons only. The classes are enormous! The teachers don’t stick around for very long. The local CC families are kind of jerky and jealous about the program.

Easily half of the immersion fifth grade class continues at Silver Spring International or goes back to their home middle school.

I have had kids in immersion and none of them continued to Westland/BCc- it was too far. But I loved that they got the exposure to Spanish!

The full immersion programs at RCF and Sligo creek are relics from a different time- the new model is dual immersion and it’s way better- they put it in schools where at least half of the kids are native speakers of the target language. The dual programs are great bc the native speakers of Spanish are the experts for half the day. I wish they’d been around when my kids were little.

FWIW, as of this year the RCF kids no longer have the choice between SSIMS and Westland. Unless their home school is SSIMS, they must attend Westland if they want to continue with immersion. This is, I believe, a function of the SSIMS renovation being sharply curtailed by budget cuts.

It will be interesting to see how many kids continue with immersion in that case. The ones I know from Silver Spring are returning to home middle schools rather than deal with riding a bus to RCF and transferring to another bus to Westland MS.

[Anonymous]

Let's get real. You have families trying to get into RCF immersion just to go to Westland MS. Driving their kid or their kid taking two buses to go to a West county predominantly white MS (Westland) is not a big deal for families trying to escape their "diverse" home middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's get real. You have families trying to get into RCF immersion just to go to Westland MS. Driving their kid or their kid taking two buses to go to a West county predominantly white MS (Westland) is not a big deal for families trying to escape their "diverse" home middle school.

It's funny because when boundary changes are brought up all we hear about is how the people in the "diverse" home schools don't want to travel far and that nobody actually wants the boundary changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's get real. You have families trying to get into RCF immersion just to go to Westland MS. Driving their kid or their kid taking two buses to go to a West county predominantly white MS (Westland) is not a big deal for families trying to escape their "diverse" home middle school.

It's funny because when boundary changes are brought up all we hear about is how the people in the "diverse" home schools don't want to travel far and that nobody actually wants the boundary changes.

Have you talked to RCF Spanish immersion parents? If they don't admit trying to escape, they are not being fully honest. Yes you will find some who entered lottery only because they want the kid to learn the language to communicate with grandparents or extended family in Spain etc. You have families within the RCF neighborhood school boundary trying to get their kid into Spanish immersion to escape (white flight) the neighborhood RCF school (the classes that are only in English just as other MCPS non-immersion schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's get real. You have families trying to get into RCF immersion just to go to Westland MS. Driving their kid or their kid taking two buses to go to a West county predominantly white MS (Westland) is not a big deal for families trying to escape their "diverse" home middle school.

It's funny because when boundary changes are brought up all we hear about is how the people in the "diverse" home schools don't want to travel far and that nobody actually wants the boundary changes.

Have you talked to RCF Spanish immersion parents? If they don't admit trying to escape, they are not being fully honest. Yes you will find some who entered lottery only because they want the kid to learn the language to communicate with grandparents or extended family in Spain etc. You have families within the RCF neighborhood school boundary trying to get their kid into Spanish immersion to escape (white flight) the neighborhood RCF school (the classes that are only in English just as other MCPS non-immersion schools).

I have, the ones I know travel from the Wootton cluster because they really want the Spanish immersion. Have you talked to any families at all? Of course the commute is a big deal.