Disadvantages of a bilingual school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no disadvantage in bilingualism per se. But there is also no one, definitive way to become both bilingual and biliterate.

Not quite true. Canadian studies have shown that bilingual immersion education done poorly in an-English speaking country can lead to worse outcomes in middle school and high school than mono-lingual education done well. Kids in weak bilingual programs can end up so far behind peers in English that they never catch up. It's the adolescent brain that cements acquired language. Stopping the immersion at 5th grade in DC, with only "advanced" language classes at DCI is a mistake. The Canadian programs almost always continue through middle school for a reason - the research supports this approach.

You just said that a bad bilingual school is not as good as a good monolingual school. No shit. But what does this say about bilingual schools in general?

[Anonymous]

Who said DCI is only doing advanced language classes instead of immersion???
Clearly you did not attend the information sessions or are deliberately trying to sabotage by spreading false information. DCI will be teaching content in target languages. Not all subjects, but many so that kids have a large portion of their content delivered in French, Spanish,

[Anonymous]

Curious. How will they do that with French? The number of students who studied Fench will be much smaller than Spanish or Chinese.

[Anonymous]

^^ Haricots Verts, speak up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who said DCI is only doing advanced language classes instead of immersion???
Clearly you did not attend the information sessions or are deliberately trying to sabotage by spreading false information. DCI will be teaching content in target languages. Not all subjects, but many so that kids have a large portion of their content delivered in French, Spanish,

Well I attended a couple information sessions. But I didn't come away convinced that the immersion would continue in a manner that would prevent the kids from losing ground on target language acquisition, at least without substantial home inputs.

With only 50 or 60 kids graduating from YY, and fewer from Stokes, DCI is going to struggle to maintain immersion environments. Maybe half of the charter graduates will head elsewhere for middle school. DCI is really too far from the Hill, where many future language immersion school graduates live.

As long as DC Charter continues to fight allowing language proficient kids to test into any of their immersion schools, even to replace dropouts, keeping enrollment up for target language speakers at DCI is going to be tough.

Yes, target language speaking kids with language skills could lottery in, and perhaps be allowed to take the immersion classes, but how many actually would?

[Anonymous]

The majority of parents at our DCI feeder school have no plan of changing school. I beleive - as with any new school- there will be some bumps but they will ease.

I am excited for our new junior/high school and do not see my family pulling out.


FYI - YuYing and Stokes are not the only schools. There will also be graduates from DC Bilingual, LAMB and eventually Mundho Verde.

[Anonymous]

FYI- Stokes, DC Bi, and Mundo Verde accept kids beyond 1st grade so there would not be a problem filling spots of kids that drop out of those schools (tracks).

Ying, LAMB are the only ones that do not accept enrollment after certain grades.

There might be a problem if enough kids do not stay on the Yu Ying track.

I do not see a problem with the Spanish track as most of the schools Target Language includes Spanish.

French might be ok because Stokes accepts children past 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious about the kids who are in the top grade at YY and in the non-immersion track. They will not be fluent in anything other than English so I'm not sure what classes they will take if some of the content is taught in immersion. I guess there will need to be 4 different sections of some classes (Mandarin, French, Spanish and non-immersion).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Haricots Verts, speak up!

Haricots Verts is Kaput.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious about the kids who are in the top grade at YY and in the non-immersion track. They will not be fluent in anything other than English so I'm not sure what classes they will take if some of the content is taught in immersion. I guess there will need to be 4 different sections of some classes (Mandarin, French, Spanish and non-immersion).

I hope they don't practice the YY tracking model at DCI. I'm shocked they have been allowed by the PCSB to do it in their own four walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious. How will they do that with French? The number of students who studied Fench will be much smaller than Spanish or Chinese.

Good. Then the class size will be smaller = more individualized attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Haricots Verts, speak up!

Haricots Verts is Kaput.

DETAILS PLEASE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The majority of parents at our DCI feeder school have no plan of changing school. I beleive - as with any new school- there will be some bumps but they will ease.

I am excited for our new junior/high school and do not see my family pulling out.


FYI - YuYing and Stokes are not the only schools. There will also be graduates from DC Bilingual, LAMB and eventually Mundho Verde.

You can't know what parents plans are. We tell others that we're on board with DCI when asked. This is to avoid offending anyone when we're really on the fence, looking at privates, the burbs, Washington Latin, Basis etc.

DCI is indeed far from our home on the Hill and the DCPC's aversion to testing in worries us. Too many of the kids in our feeder struggle for us to feel committed. We like the optimism in the air, but have our doubts for a very bright kid who also excels at sports.

The distance from the Hill to Walter Reed, through bad traffic, will not ease. No, the traffic will only worsen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Cause she said,"we've"

"Cause" she said, "we've"? We, meaning my children and by extension my family, have experienced the aforementioned. And to clarify, the IB is not just a philosophy. It is a curriculum framework with units, outcomes, formative and summative assessments.

Not before 11th grade. The IB MYP may have some outcomes, but that's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The majority of parents at our DCI feeder school have no plan of changing school. I beleive - as with any new school- there will be some bumps but they will ease.

I am excited for our new junior/high school and do not see my family pulling out.


FYI - YuYing and Stokes are not the only schools. There will also be graduates from DC Bilingual, LAMB and eventually Mundho Verde.

You can't know what parents plans are. We tell others that we're on board with DCI when asked. This is to avoid offending anyone when we're really on the fence, looking at privates, the burbs, Washington Latin, Basis etc.

DCI is indeed far from our home on the Hill and the DCPC's aversion to testing in worries us. Too many of the kids in our feeder struggle for us to feel committed. We like the optimism in the air, but have our doubts for a very bright kid who also excels at sports.

The distance from the Hill to Walter Reed, through bad traffic, will not ease. No, the traffic will only worsen.

Our charter did a survey.

Every child at the feeders do not live on the hill. Of we will loose some kids. This is what happens every where. At least some of the feeder will back fill spots for the Spanish/French track since some of the charters accept kids beyond 1st.