Bilingual Kids in Language Immersion ES Programs, Which Programs Have Many & Strive to Attract Them?

[Anonymous]

I have to laugh at the idea of being turned off by "too many self-righteous parents" or "one-way immersion" only. Horrors! It must be nice to be able to turn down a spot at YY for a great IB school.

Count me among the zillions of DC parents who would be thrilled to simply land a seat at a decent charter or OOB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree that second gen kids raise the bar in Chinese classes. That was my experience in high school, college, and graduate school. Actually, when I was in high school and got better grades than some of the second gen kids who spoke at home, they would get punished for not trying hard enough. The lack of second gen kids at Yu Ying is one of my concerns about the school, but if my kid gets in will probably take the slot.

Your DC will not get in, unfortunately due to sibling preference.

I would not be so sure PP. My DC received the call in late September for a PK spot. DC doesn't have any siblings.

[Anonymous]

"I live in a great neighborhood AND I can afford to move to any MoCo neighborhood on a whim if I choose. Poor me that YY isn't perfect for me. I certainly don't want to invest my time an energy when I have other choices. I guess I'll have to fall back on one of my other really terrific options."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading these posts, it is obvious that to some extent, what Chinese families are looking for in a bilingual school is different from what non-Chinese families are. Parents with one Chinese parent and one Western parent are also have slightly different concerns.

Some of this came out in the discussion about the class trip -- people either saw it is an incredible opportunity to see the place the kids have studied for 5 years, or an annoying distraction that poorly replicates trips they've already taken.

I'm all for allowing kids to test into the school in Chinese, and all for a rigorous Chinese program that pushes the kids hard to excel.

And I do wonder about parents who would their kids to YY yet be ignorant about Chinese cultural and dialects. Why do they bother sending their kids to YY, and how on earth do they check the homework when the have no clue about the language?

But all that said -- I love Yu Ying.

Tutor baby. BTW- How do high academically achieving non-English speaking immigrants check their children's homework. They find a way.

[Anonymous]

Why should a dialect speaking child be any different from someone who speaks Japanese or Korean or Spanish or Gujarati or Urdu for that matter? None of them help the kids learn Mandarin. At best it's a distraction and at worst it would slow the kids down at learning Mandarin. What do you expect other children to learn from dialect speakers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree that second gen kids raise the bar in Chinese classes. That was my experience in high school, college, and graduate school. Actually, when I was in high school and got better grades than some of the second gen kids who spoke at home, they would get punished for not trying hard enough. The lack of second gen kids at Yu Ying is one of my concerns about the school, but if my kid gets in will probably take the slot.

Your DC will not get in, unfortunately due to sibling preference.

I would not be so sure PP. My DC received the call in late September for a PK spot. DC doesn't have any siblings.

How far down the waitlist did they get last yr for preK?

This yr, the siblings from the jumbo preK class, rising 1st, will be applying so there will be many more siblings than previous yrs for preK. But hopefully there will be some spots for the lottery.

[Anonymous]

It's a lottery. Everyone gets an equal chance for admission and no, there is nothing that looks at motivation or "only the most deserving people get in". Get over yourself.

An equal chance? Sure about that? Hate to burst you balloon, dude, but we only speak Mandarin at home, and we jumped from far down the wait list to the top 10 after one 3-minute meeting with the vice principal, wink wink, nod, nod. We were in by April. Without the Mandarin, we'd be at 2 Rivers, the only school admitting us on lottery results day. I for one would love to have a lot more Chinese speakers at YY, speaking whatever dialect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading these posts, it is obvious that to some extent, what Chinese families are looking for in a bilingual school is different from what non-Chinese families are. Parents with one Chinese parent and one Western parent are also have slightly different concerns.

Some of this came out in the discussion about the class trip -- people either saw it is an incredible opportunity to see the place the kids have studied for 5 years, or an annoying distraction that poorly replicates trips they've already taken.

I'm all for allowing kids to test into the school in Chinese, and all for a rigorous Chinese program that pushes the kids hard to excel.

And I do wonder about parents who would their kids to YY yet be ignorant about Chinese cultural and dialects. Why do they bother sending their kids to YY, and how on earth do they check the homework when the have no clue about the language?

But all that said -- I love Yu Ying.

Tutor baby. BTW- How do high academically achieving non-English speaking immigrants check their children's homework. They find a way.

My immigrant parents never helped us with homework or even read a book to us (in any language). We all went Ivy or similar anyway. Parents helping with homework is overrated. Tutors work better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's a lottery. Everyone gets an equal chance for admission and no, there is nothing that looks at motivation or "only the most deserving people get in". Get over yourself.

An equal chance? Sure about that? Hate to burst you balloon, dude, but we only speak Mandarin at home, and we jumped from far down the wait list to the top 10 after one 3-minute meeting with the vice principal, wink wink, nod, nod. We were in by April. Without the Mandarin, we'd be at 2 Rivers, the only school admitting us on lottery results day. I for one would love to have a lot more Chinese speakers at YY, speaking whatever dialect.



So dude, you got in? So all the dialect speakers can arrange a meeting with the VP so they can jump the line...

[Anonymous]

What is it about Yu Ying that bring the crazies out. Other than Basis, is there another school that has received such vitriol, especially from those who have never had a stake in the school. Heck, I have a DC at YY so I know of some of the f'ed up stuff. But, I would venture that there is f'ed up crap at the majority of these school, even the touted best IB and other charters. It's a school which was started by some well-intentioned, high-strung, Type A parents. There will be issues. But, there will be issues anywhere, some the same, some different.

If you don't like YY don't apply. Everyone knows, or should know, that YY cannot circumvent charter law. What many of you do not know is that a couple years back, YY did approach the charter board about amending the rules to get a greater percentage of native speakers, similar to LAMB's. I often wonder if that is how LAMB's cheating came to light, but I digress.

YY has reached out to the dwindling DC Chinese American community. As a matter of fact, some of the programs in after school are administered by members of the Chinese Center. I think many people on DCUM like to talk smack with half the facts.

What I find interesting is that many of you who rave about MV, Oyster, and LAMB are probably the same ones who speak negatively of DC Bilingual, CHEC or Cleveland. Those schools have the native spanish speakers you desire, but they are the wrong kind. They are low-income, whereas the Oysters and MVs have more middle income. You want the the so-called right Latino's in your school, and not too many, just enough.

If you really want a school with more native chinese speaking students, apply to Thompson ES. Oh no, too many FARMS, even among the catonese speaking students.

[Anonymous]

So dude, you got in? So all the dialect speakers can arrange a meeting with the VP so they can jump the line...

Yes, in. Don't know if the dialect speakers get the same treatment, doubt it, since no one in admin speaks a dialect. The "meeting" was in Mandarin (I also speak a dialect, but not my child). Planning to go private for 2nd or 3rd, so our spot will stay empty for several years unless something changes. Ridiculous when we know Mandarin-speaking kids whose parents would take it.

If thinking that YY could be friendlier to native speakers to boost enrollment of bilingual kids makes me a crazy, I'll go with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So dude, you got in? So all the dialect speakers can arrange a meeting with the VP so they can jump the line...

Yes, in. Don't know if the dialect speakers get the same treatment, doubt it, since no one in admin speaks a dialect. The "meeting" was in Mandarin (I also speak a dialect, but not my child). Planning to go private for 2nd or 3rd, so our spot will stay empty for several years unless something changes. Ridiculous when we know Mandarin-speaking kids whose parents would take it.

If thinking that YY could be friendlier to native speakers to boost enrollment of bilingual kids makes me a crazy, I'll go with that.



This does not surprise me and I'm generally pro YY. Which class? Prior to the current preK, YY has gone through their entire waitlist for preK so any favoritism like what happened to you really made no difference. At least this will make "let's recruit more native speakers" people happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you really want a school with more native chinese speaking students, apply to Thompson ES. Oh no, too many FARMS, even among the catonese speaking students.

What a jerk you are. So bad for PR at our beloved YY that I hope somebody gives your kid a full ride to Sidwell very soon.

Don't worry about the FARMs Cantonese-speakers at Thompson. They're going to top colleges anyway. Would love to have them join the party, giving our pampered little pains a run for their money, in English and math as much as Chinese.

Much as you love to claim that most of the Chinese speakers with 4 year olds are beating down the door to get in, I assure you that the ethnic Thompson parents aren't applying. They're scraping together the dough to move to MoCo, having heard that YY isn't for dialect speakers with nobody from the school disabusing them of the notion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you really want a school with more native chinese speaking students, apply to Thompson ES. Oh no, too many FARMS, even among the catonese speaking students.

What a jerk you are. So bad for PR at our beloved YY that I hope somebody gives your kid a full ride to Sidwell very soon.

Don't worry about the FARMs Cantonese-speakers at Thompson. They're going to top colleges anyway. Would love to have them join the party, giving our pampered little pains a run for their money, in English and math as much as Chinese.

Much as you love to claim that most of the Chinese speakers with 4 year olds are beating down the door to get in, I assure you that the ethnic Thompson parents aren't applying. They're scraping together the dough to move to MoCo, having heard that YY isn't for dialect speakers with nobody from the school disabusing them of the notion.

You are missing their point entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I find interesting is that many of you who rave about MV, Oyster, and LAMB are probably the same ones who speak negatively of DC Bilingual, CHEC or Cleveland. Those schools have the native spanish speakers you desire, but they are the wrong kind. They are low-income, whereas the Oysters and MVs have more middle income. You want the the so-called right Latino's in your school, and not too many, just enough.

Bancroft should be on that list, too.