Language immersion/lessons

[Anonymous]

Pretty much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good for MV. YY used to run a similar camp, but ditched it three of four years ago due to budget constraints.

I believe Stokes and Sela also have summer camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Studies have also shown that little kids lose acquired language almost as easily as they pick it up. Fine to start with toddlers and little kids, but not much use if they stop learning the language as older kids or teens. If you're choosing a random language for your child to learn that won't be reinforced either at home or in your community, the results may not be too hot eventually. Your kid may not see the point of continuing with the language once they have a say in the matter, since they don't have to speak it to get along. I can hear the dip in my fully bilingual older kids' conversational ability in the language one of us speaks at home after they've been away at summer camp for a few weeks.

Depends on what the goal is, right?

Exactly. The YY basher who posts the same thing on every YY thread (lots of jeering at the kids' language skills, says teachers talk about the head right in front of her, recommends MoCo language schools, etc.) assumes fluency is/should be the goal. But there are other benefits--language exposure to set groundwork for future more intensive study, cognitive benefits, cultural exposure, stronger curriculum than IB school (perhaps especially for low SES families), etc. I don't think anyone but perhaps PK3 parents believes their kids will be perfectly bilingual after YY, or other language schools for that matter.

-no affiliation with YY nor any interest in Mandarin

[Anonymous]

The problem is that the YY basher is spot on.

We could really use far more serious elementary school immersion programs in DC, and language study in general.

[Anonymous]

So let's have non serious immersion programs for those who want that ALONG with serious immersion for those who want it in every language taught via immersion, e.g. the parent who posted about driving her kid across town and enrolling in summer immersion camps.

It doesn't help when MV lets kids into the older grades without Spanish just to get the dollars that follow students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that the YY basher is spot on.

We could really use far more serious elementary school immersion programs in DC, and language study in general.

+100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Studies have also shown that little kids lose acquired language almost as easily as they pick it up. Fine to start with toddlers and little kids, but not much use if they stop learning the language as older kids or teens. If you're choosing a random language for your child to learn that won't be reinforced either at home or in your community, the results may not be too hot eventually. Your kid may not see the point of continuing with the language once they have a say in the matter, since they don't have to speak it to get along. I can hear the dip in my fully bilingual older kids' conversational ability in the language one of us speaks at home after they've been away at summer camp for a few weeks.

Depends on what the goal is, right?

Exactly. The YY basher who posts the same thing on every YY thread (lots of jeering at the kids' language skills, says teachers talk about the head right in front of her, recommends MoCo language schools, etc.) assumes fluency is/should be the goal. But there are other benefits--language exposure to set groundwork for future more intensive study, cognitive benefits, cultural exposure, stronger curriculum than IB school (perhaps especially for low SES families), etc. I don't think anyone but perhaps PK3 parents believes their kids will be perfectly bilingual after YY, or other language schools for that matter.

-no affiliation with YY nor any interest in Mandarin

I don't need fluency at YY.

I'd settle for …
at least one real native speaker in my kid's class every year
a HOS who communicates effectively with her language teachers
Chinese teachers who are good across the board
something better than a Mandarin app for my kid to practice after school

If these wishes make me a YY basher, happy to join the club.

--YY parent on the fenced about returning

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Studies have also shown that little kids lose acquired language almost as easily as they pick it up. Fine to start with toddlers and little kids, but not much use if they stop learning the language as older kids or teens. If you're choosing a random language for your child to learn that won't be reinforced either at home or in your community, the results may not be too hot eventually. Your kid may not see the point of continuing with the language once they have a say in the matter, since they don't have to speak it to get along. I can hear the dip in my fully bilingual older kids' conversational ability in the language one of us speaks at home after they've been away at summer camp for a few weeks.

Depends on what the goal is, right?

Exactly. The YY basher who posts the same thing on every YY thread (lots of jeering at the kids' language skills, says teachers talk about the head right in front of her, recommends MoCo language schools, etc.) assumes fluency is/should be the goal. But there are other benefits--language exposure to set groundwork for future more intensive study, cognitive benefits, cultural exposure, stronger curriculum than IB school (perhaps especially for low SES families), etc. I don't think anyone but perhaps PK3 parents believes their kids will be perfectly bilingual after YY, or other language schools for that matter.

-no affiliation with YY nor any interest in Mandarin

No dog in this fight but I can't help but ask why we should settle for the tyranny of low expectations here in the District. The other benefits aren't nearly as good as the real deal, kids speaking the language well after many years of immersion and partial immersion study.

If MoCo gets the job done, don't run down the posters who aspire to what MoCo can do. Copy MoCo as best we can as a school system and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

This thread is a good reminder that public elementary schools in this city just aren't that great outside Upper NW and maybe Capitol Hill.

If UMC parents aren't hugely involved in the running of a school, and low SES are more than a small minority, quality becomes a real issue by the upper grades.

Charter immersion parents have almost no say in how their schools are run.

No need for a DC program to "copy MoCo" quality to be popular or fully funded indefinitely.

[Anonymous]

For people who think MoCo has all such great immersion programs, I suggest you research this and look at some of their threads.

Issues include weak programs, disorganized admin, admin closed off to parent involvement, no immersion track after elementary, no immersion at all in high school, etc....

The grass is not always greener on the other side sometimes.

BTW it’s the same poster bashing the immersion charters who touts MoCo. Same person every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a good reminder that public elementary schools in this city just aren't that great outside Upper NW and maybe Capitol Hill.

If UMC parents aren't hugely involved in the running of a school, and low SES are more than a small minority, quality becomes a real issue by the upper grades.

Charter immersion parents have almost no say in how their schools are run.

No need for a DC program to "copy MoCo" quality to be popular or fully funded indefinitely.

Your points above can be refuted if you are using the across the board standards of PARRC scores.

We don’t have a child at YY but if you look at PARCC scores, similar to schools WOTP. Kids do just as well in addition to picking up Mandarin.

Also, if you look at the PARCC scores and %at risk between Hardy and DCI, not a big difference. Kids in elementary schools (non-immersion WOTP vs immersion EOTP) feeding into the respective schools do similarly.

[Anonymous]

Well I don't tout MoCo, though I used to teach in a partial immersion middle school program there.

The program wasn't disorganized. About half of our students would test into one of the best International Baccalaureate diploma programs in the US. The high school program taught higher level IB language for half a dozen languages.

Do you have a IB Diploma program like that in....DC?? Do you have a big cohort of native speakers in the programs that aren't for...Spanish?

MoCo, while not perfect, does!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a good reminder that public elementary schools in this city just aren't that great outside Upper NW and maybe Capitol Hill.

If UMC parents aren't hugely involved in the running of a school, and low SES are more than a small minority, quality becomes a real issue by the upper grades.

Charter immersion parents have almost no say in how their schools are run.

No need for a DC program to "copy MoCo" quality to be popular or fully funded indefinitely.

Your points above can be refuted if you are using the across the board standards of PARRC scores.

We don’t have a child at YY but if you look at PARCC scores, similar to schools WOTP. Kids do just as well in addition to picking up Mandarin.

Also, if you look at the PARCC scores and %at risk between Hardy and DCI, not a big difference. Kids in elementary schools (non-immersion WOTP vs immersion EOTP) feeding into the respective schools do similarly.

Forgot to add above that I was comparing immersion charters to DCPS WOTP. But if poster is talking about DCPS elementary schools EOTP in general then yes not as comparable in similar PARCC scores at elementary level or feeders into middle with exception of 1 or 2 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I don't tout MoCo, though I used to teach in a partial immersion middle school program there.

The program wasn't disorganized. About half of our students would test into one of the best International Baccalaureate diploma programs in the US. The high school program taught higher level IB language for half a dozen languages.

Do you have a IB Diploma program like that in....DC?? Do you have a big cohort of native speakers in the programs that aren't for...Spanish?

MoCo, while not perfect, does!!

You are talking about a test in IB program that has been around for a long time which takes a very limited number of students. I would compare that to like a magnet program. DC does not have anything like that. You are also talking about 1 high school in all of MoCo number wise as compared to the much larger number of immersion students overall of which many do not have the chance to track to an IB middle or high school.

Language immersion also is still relatively new in DC overall. It is in its infancy. The IB high school, DCI, takes all comers and has not even graduated their first class yet.

It’s not a similar comparison at all. Get back to us in 20 years and we can talk.