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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What grades are you interested in, and are your kids already French-speaking?  [/quote]
My child willl be entering 2nd grade next year. He attends a public French immersion school now and has been in the school since PK 3. Parents are not native speakers but his dad took enough French in college/ lived abroad and can read at a lower ES level. Our child can speak, understand the language (watches tv in French) and reads A/B level books - equivalent to early K level reading. He can’t really write or spell but his English spelling is not very strong. I’m wondering if it would be a good fit. We are also considering WIS but missed the application deadline (we probably missed it for Rochbeau too). We are considering it because school is all virtual and we think it might be that way next year too. Thanks for any information you can share.[/quote]

PP here.  Happy to respond, as my child started in 1st and is now in 4th.  But first, will he be entering the immersion program (for kids relatively new to French), or the regular classes?[/quote]

We have not applied yet but plan to. I left a message for the school because one of my questions is which program is a better fit? I would like my child to be in an immersion program because that’s what we are in now but since I have nothing to compare with I don’t know if the immersion program is right for DS. Any information you can share is appreciated. Thanks![/quote]

PP here.  We've had a good experience thus far.  The "immersion" program is a bit of a misnomer, as it's for kids that are new/new-ish to French and would benefit from additional help until they can be mainstreamed into the regular French classes, where all subjects are in French (except English class, of course).  Our kid had some prior formal French exposure but not much, and spent 1st grade in the immersion program.  In spring of the first year, the immersion kids start spending more time in their regular classes--this varies, though, depending on the kid.  If your son is already in a French immersion school, it's possible you wouldn't need this program, but at least pre-pandemic they would do an in-person "test"/admissions interview to gauge your kid's fluency.  Valerie in admissions is great and can provide further details.

I've heard the French really picks up in later years, and anecdotally I've heard that the few American families tend to leave around middle school.  We are probably similar to you in that I speak French on an early elementary level, and the other of us studied abroad in France and has a more advanced command of French.  For now, we are planning on staying at least through middle school.

I'm happy to answer any other specific questions you have.  As for admissions, I think applications submitted by mid-Jan. have priority, but there are rolling admissions after this date.[/quote]

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