MCPS Spanish immersion schools

[Anonymous]

They need a Principal and IMHO an Assistant Principal who can both speak in that immersion language. Don't know if the current MCPS immersion programs have at least one administrator who can speak the language.

[Anonymous]

I heard immersion kids don’t even have the option to take lower level Spanish in middle school. Is this true?

[Anonymous]

Do Spanish immersion programs have a separate counselor that parents can contact or are all students at the ES assigned the same counselor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do Spanish immersion programs have a separate counselor that parents can contact or are all students at the ES assigned the same counselor?

There is no separate counselor however there is a program director at each school parents can contact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard immersion kids don’t even have the option to take lower level Spanish in middle school. Is this true?

They do however it is highly frowned upon. Students have been learning spanish for many years in elementary. The spanish immersion class is meant for those students even if it is hard.
Putting them in a class with people who barely speak spanish is pointless and they won’t learn anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard immersion kids don’t even have the option to take lower level Spanish in middle school. Is this true?

They do however it is highly frowned upon. Students have been learning spanish for many years in elementary. The spanish immersion class is meant for those students even if it is hard.
Putting them in a class with people who barely speak spanish is pointless and they won’t learn anything.

If the level is too low, the immersion student will be very bored. It would be like learning the ABCs in middle school: completely inappropriate for a full immersion student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t there a Two-Way French or Chinese immersion program?

Staffing shortages. Also there are far fewer French- and Chinese-speaking families in the district than there are Spanish-speaking families; the family language is a key feature of two-way.

[Anonymous]

Here is another thread about mcps Spanish immersion programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have kids in two different immersion programs. The first six months of kindergarten is ROUGH. Teachers start from day one in the target language. So get ready for a lot of meltdowns.

My kids both read in English later than their peers but caught up easily.

Teachers and programs have been great to us.

They take Spanish 1 in middle school (the same curriculum that high schoolers take).

Look at the various schools as some do give preference to the neighborhood. For example I think William Tyler Page holds about half the spots for neighborhood. During K orientation they were asking if anyone else from the neighborhood wanted to get into Spanish otherwise they were opening it up to the out of bounds waiting list.

Does this mean that, assuming the one-way immersion students take all three years of Spanish in MS, that they will take Spanish 4 as their first Spanish class in HS?

Yes, generally. My son is signed up for Spanish 4 for 9th grade.

I don't think middle school immersion Spanish students take exactly the same curriculum as high school though. For one thing, they already speak it, so their vocabulary is much higher than a Spanish 1 student in ninth grade. They don't get as much grammar as high schoolers and I've heard that can be a struggle when they get to Spanish 4. But Spanish 4 is taught in Spanish, and they are generally much more conversant than the students who started in 9th grade Spanish 1.

His 8th grade immersion teacher says she emphasizes grammar a lot because the immersion students can be weak in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I don’t believe you have had “multiple families” articulate (haha) that they are using Spanish immersion to escape their own schools. I call BS.

Maybe they like the idea of having choices for middle school after immersion (home, Westland, SSI), but no one is choosing immersion for these reasons only. The classes are enormous! The teachers don’t stick around for very long. The local CC families are kind of jerky and jealous about the program.

Easily half of the immersion fifth grade class continues at Silver Spring International or goes back to their home middle school.

I have had kids in immersion and none of them continued to Westland/BCc- it was too far. But I loved that they got the exposure to Spanish!

The full immersion programs at RCF and Sligo creek are relics from a different time- the new model is dual immersion and it’s way better- they put it in schools where at least half of the kids are native speakers of the target language. The dual programs are great bc the native speakers of Spanish are the experts for half the day. I wish they’d been around when my kids were little.

How did your kids do in non-immersion MS after studing Spanish only in ES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I don’t believe you have had “multiple families” articulate (haha) that they are using Spanish immersion to escape their own schools. I call BS.

Maybe they like the idea of having choices for middle school after immersion (home, Westland, SSI), but no one is choosing immersion for these reasons only. The classes are enormous! The teachers don’t stick around for very long. The local CC families are kind of jerky and jealous about the program.

Easily half of the immersion fifth grade class continues at Silver Spring International or goes back to their home middle school.

I have had kids in immersion and none of them continued to Westland/BCc- it was too far. But I loved that they got the exposure to Spanish!

The full immersion programs at RCF and Sligo creek are relics from a different time- the new model is dual immersion and it’s way better- they put it in schools where at least half of the kids are native speakers of the target language. The dual programs are great bc the native speakers of Spanish are the experts for half the day. I wish they’d been around when my kids were little.

How did your kids do in non-immersion MS after studing Spanish only in ES?

Looking at that old post you’re responding to—I don’t see why learning Spanish for half a day (the new model) is “way better” than learning Spanish full day except specials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I don’t believe you have had “multiple families” articulate (haha) that they are using Spanish immersion to escape their own schools. I call BS.

Maybe they like the idea of having choices for middle school after immersion (home, Westland, SSI), but no one is choosing immersion for these reasons only. The classes are enormous! The teachers don’t stick around for very long. The local CC families are kind of jerky and jealous about the program.

Easily half of the immersion fifth grade class continues at Silver Spring International or goes back to their home middle school.

I have had kids in immersion and none of them continued to Westland/BCc- it was too far. But I loved that they got the exposure to Spanish!

The full immersion programs at RCF and Sligo creek are relics from a different time- the new model is dual immersion and it’s way better- they put it in schools where at least half of the kids are native speakers of the target language. The dual programs are great bc the native speakers of Spanish are the experts for half the day. I wish they’d been around when my kids were little.

How did your kids do in non-immersion MS after studing Spanish only in ES?

Looking at that old post you’re responding to—I don’t see why learning Spanish for half a day (the new model) is “way better” than learning Spanish full day except specials.

I think the PP meant the other aspects of the program. Having a large population of native Spanish speakers that struggle in English and therefore gain confidence by being the experts half the day, is great. I think another advantage of the new model is it is at the students' home school so no traveling too far, and it's available to every student at the school. The downside is if it doesn't work for your kid, you have to leave the home school (there are partner schools you can switch to).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask for the data form these immersion experiments. Does it make a difference for native English speakers? Or is it just a fancy excuse to bus kids in to communities with high populations of native Spanish soeajers to increase the school’s report card? Everyone I know who started in one has left once they saw what was behind the curtain

This is a weird critique, since most of the kids at WTPES and BMES are coming from elsewhere in the down-county, and RCFES is a BCC feeder.

Yes, RCF feeds into BCC which is why the immersion program is primarily made up of families trying to escape the DCC schools.

This is so accurate. I have had multiple families articulate exactly this and express zero interest or passion for their kid learning Spanish. It's very annoying.

I don’t believe you have had “multiple families” articulate (haha) that they are using Spanish immersion to escape their own schools. I call BS.

Maybe they like the idea of having choices for middle school after immersion (home, Westland, SSI), but no one is choosing immersion for these reasons only. The classes are enormous! The teachers don’t stick around for very long. The local CC families are kind of jerky and jealous about the program.

Easily half of the immersion fifth grade class continues at Silver Spring International or goes back to their home middle school.

I have had kids in immersion and none of them continued to Westland/BCc- it was too far. But I loved that they got the exposure to Spanish!

The full immersion programs at RCF and Sligo creek are relics from a different time- the new model is dual immersion and it’s way better- they put it in schools where at least half of the kids are native speakers of the target language. The dual programs are great bc the native speakers of Spanish are the experts for half the day. I wish they’d been around when my kids were little.

How did your kids do in non-immersion MS after studing Spanish only in ES?

Looking at that old post you’re responding to—I don’t see why learning Spanish for half a day (the new model) is “way better” than learning Spanish full day except specials.

I think the PP meant the other aspects of the program. Having a large population of native Spanish speakers that struggle in English and therefore gain confidence by being the experts half the day, is great. I think another advantage of the new model is it is at the students' home school so no traveling too far, and it's available to every student at the school. The downside is if it doesn't work for your kid, you have to leave the home school (there are partner schools you can switch to).

It is fabulous.