Supporting Immersion During DL

[Anonymous]

For those of you in immersion schools, how has your school addressed supporting the target language especially if you are not native speakers. Have thought about how you might supplement (tutors, online classes, au pair)? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

You should learn the target language starting now.

FWIW, I’d be very very curious to know what your school has has done that either did it didnt work for you.

[Anonymous]

Ours has not done a lot. We have been trying to supplement with virtual language camps, reading in target language, etc.

I agree with PP that we need to increase our language skills in the language. I'm thinking of taking a virtual class.

[Anonymous]

Can you afford a spanish-speaking babysitter? They could sit with child outside and talk/color/play games. Or obviously nanny or in-country au pair.

Disney + has lots of Spanish-language options.

[Anonymous]

If anyone has info on how Stokes (East End, but really either campus) did with this in the spring and what they've heard about the Fall, I am very interested. We are top of the waitlist for PK3 at both East End programs and will almost certainly take a spot if its offered. But we have no idea what to expect of DL with immersion and we know Stokes plans to start DL only with the hope of offering in-person later in the fall (we are skeptical this will materialize).

We are both Spanish speakers, though a little rusty from disuse. I am conversational in French and still remember most of my vocabulary and verb conjugations, but my husband has none. We are hoping this will help if our son winds up in either immersion program but have no idea what to expect. We're both brushing up our Spanish as well as we can this summer and I've been cruising through some DuoLingo French just in case.

Any info and/or advice is welcome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford a spanish-speaking babysitter? They could sit with child outside and talk/color/play games. Or obviously nanny or in-country au pair.

Disney + has lots of Spanish-language options.

Do you have any recommendations on programming? Kids don't like dubbed cartoons.

They loved Tesoros: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6385910/ I think we saw it one HBO.
Real kids speaking Spanish. I would love to find other films/shows like this.

[Anonymous]

Would also love recommendations! My kids don’t mind dubbed cartoons so much but I completely agree it’s not ideal. I posted above about Disney +.

For some countries/ regions you can sign up for remote cable to access a whole suite of programs. Has anyone done this with a spanish-language cable program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you in immersion schools, how has your school addressed supporting the target language especially if you are not native speakers. Have thought about how you might supplement (tutors, online classes, au pair)? Thanks.

They don't. Distancing learning at immersion schools is a disaster.

[Anonymous]

What I really want and haven't been able to find and the school hasn't provided yet are lists of books - ideally fiction - for each grade level written by native authors (specifically - Spanish, not translated from English).

I'm happy to import books if I have to (yes, I recognize this is not an option for everyone), but I'm struggling to get my kids to read new stuff that is more challenging for them at this point, and more screens only creates more problems in our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford a spanish-speaking babysitter? They could sit with child outside and talk/color/play games. Or obviously nanny or in-country au pair.

Disney + has lots of Spanish-language options.

Do you have any recommendations on programming? Kids don't like dubbed cartoons.

They loved Tesoros: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6385910/ I think we saw it one HBO.
Real kids speaking Spanish. I would love to find other films/shows like this.

Do they like dubbed cartoons better than no cartoons? It’s immersion language or nothing. You can also listen to music and news in the immersion language even if you just put it on as background noise. It’s all about exposure.

[Anonymous]

I'm extremely concerned about this. I have been working on basic vocab and brushing up on my language skills so I can support at home.

Our school sent out these DCPS videos (there are 20 total) for incoming K to prepare for school:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwfEaNDcmIw

You need to know have some spanish knowledge AND walk your child through it or they won't get much out of it. I'm anticipating it being a rough year.

[Anonymous]

Mine likes Plaza Sesamo (he is 4). There are a few Outschool options for Spanish. I know people find tutors on Italki. I would also consider a Spanish speaking babysitter if that’s within your comfort level.

[Anonymous]

Our teacher recommended this blog - https://spanishmama.com/authentic-spanish-books-for-kids/ A lot of the books recommended are actually songs, so if you don't already have some Spanish kids cds, that's a good route as well - Mr Lilo and 123 Andres are both local DMV artists. My kid loves Chumba la Cachumba. I'd also check with some local independent book stores for recommendations or once you have some titles/authors in mind search abebooks.com

[Anonymous]

Spanishmama.com Is a great resource. She has lists of Spanish tv shows, podcasts, etc as well. My PK4 kid likes Pocoyo, which is on YouTube, which was one of the ones on her list.

[Anonymous]

Still dubbing, but Apple TV has Spanish as well.