Language immersion results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it just me, or is there not as much movement on the immersion waitlists this year? We were told that people with waitlist numbers under 40 usually have a good chance of getting off the waitlist and being offered a spot.

With our good waitlist number, I was expecting that we would definitely have an invitation by now to the immersion school that our other child attends. Apparently there are still several people ahead of our 2nd child (entering K) on the waitlist & now I'm thinking that we won't get in. That means we need to figure out the ins and outs of having our kids at different elementary schools with different start/stop times & before and after care.

Anyone have any insight?

Depending on which schools these are, you may want to look at the Montgomery County recreation Adventure club program. They usually take from several schools around them. You can also call DOT and see if you can get a stop added from your child’s immersion school if there are buses already in the area. I was able to do this several years ago.

+1 Those Montgomery rec after school programs are affordable and there are often school buses that take kids there.

[Anonymous]

My kid got an immersion spot in late October. He made it to the new school in time for their Halloween party, so there is still hope.

My kid was in the Chinese immersion program and it is a nice program but the amount they learn is small since it is only a half day program. They learned significantly more when they were in MS. They had an excellent, fabulous teacher. In HS, it became more of a challenge since the teacher favored native speakers. Unfortunately, most kids dropped after level 5 since she really didn’t care for non-native speakers and discouraged them from continuing. Many did not continue with the AP class and did not take the AP exam. It was sad since they had gone so far.

For parent who are disappointed for not getting in, suggestions for singing songs and babble, weekend classes and exposing your kids to a foreign language at a young age are great. Take the language in MS and they will learn a lot. It just takes more effort since they are not in an immersion program but it’s worth it.

[Anonymous]

We watch movies and tv shows in the target language at home to continually expose and improve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid got an immersion spot in late October. He made it to the new school in time for their Halloween party, so there is still hope.

My kid was in the Chinese immersion program and it is a nice program but the amount they learn is small since it is only a half day program. They learned significantly more when they were in MS. They had an excellent, fabulous teacher. In HS, it became more of a challenge since the teacher favored native speakers. Unfortunately, most kids dropped after level 5 since she really didn’t care for non-native speakers and discouraged them from continuing. Many did not continue with the AP class and did not take the AP exam. It was sad since they had gone so far.

For parent who are disappointed for not getting in, suggestions for singing songs and babble, weekend classes and exposing your kids to a foreign language at a young age are great. Take the language in MS and they will learn a lot. It just takes more effort since they are not in an immersion program but it’s worth it.

Thanks for the frank assessment of the Chinese program—not surprised this was your experience. It’s in line with my own experience as someone who is not fluent and is a learner. My sympathies. I hope your child continues with it, having come so far. I think there are also government programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the response above. We did apply for COSA, but it was denied back in May.
We appealed the COSA decision & haven’t heard anything yet, but all of the classmates with younger siblings entering K who didn’t get in immersion (and have no chance with waitlist) had their appeal denied, so I’m not hopeful.

I’m wrapping my head around the fact that my kids will be attending different schools from now on since the MS & HS clusters for our home school are completely different & far away from the MS & HS that the immersion school funnel into.

I was not aware or any tracking beyond MS for immersion - I thought everyone just returned to their home HS at that point.

I think the exception might be Chinese? But, yes, French and Spanish kids go back to their home HS.

[Anonymous]

Any updates? Is there any chance it’s going to expand in 2024+?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any updates? Is there any chance it’s going to expand in 2024+?

Why? Who would pay for it? Is there data showing it improves standardized test scores?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any updates? Is there any chance it’s going to expand in 2024+?

Gosh, I wish. The most commonly cited issue with potential expansion is the difficulty finding and hiring bilingual teachers. But I have no info.

[Anonymous]

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1210450.page