Reply to Yu Ying - Do/Can Non-Native Kids Actually SPEAK Chinese?

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Reply to " Yu Ying - Do/Can Non-Native Kids Actually SPEAK Chinese?"

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[quote=Anonymous]There's this myth that kids learn languages easily and quickly.  People think it's some magic thing, and kids will become fluent overnight.

In reality, learning a language is a slow difficult process for everyone.  For kids who move to America not speaking English, it takes on average 7 years for them to become fluent.  That's 7 years with full time classroom instruction, social immersion (e.g. kids using the language on the playground, on the soccer team, etc . . . ) and environmental immersion (e.g. using the language at the grocery store, hearing it on TV, etc . . . ).

And yet, we're surprised that it takes even longer for kids in immersion programs to do the same thing, when they're getting a small fraction of what those kids are getting.

If Yu Ying is getting 5th graders to the equivalent of the end of 2nd year of college, then keep in mind that that's the same point as the end of 4 year in High School (or ready to start AP study), or the end of 8 years at the pace we teach in middle school.  That's a huge head start.  If they can go on and get the equivalent of another year of college during middle school, then they're entering high school at a much much higher level than the kids who either start a language in high school, or have a few classes a week in elementary school..[/quote]

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