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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hey All,

My DS is in kindergarten. He seems to be doing pretty well, mostly 3’s in school. I go over his worksheets with him and haven’t noticed any issues (except sight word memorization, trying to work on that at home). He can’t read yet, plan to work on this too. I had hoped to put him in Japanese immersion next year for 1st grade. When I touched base with his kindergarten teacher about it, she said she would not recommend him for the program because a) he’s not a self-starter, b) he tends to talk a lot and needs redirection, and 3) he spends too much time socializing at school. I’d like to try and work on this stuff rather than passing up on the program all together. I’ve reached out to some FCPS teachers on the tutoring list, but I’m not getting much availability. Any ideas on the best way to help him? [/quote]

I would think a kid who is naturally extroverted and talks a lot would do particularly well in immersion since they'd be motivated to try out the language which builds skills.

I think that you have a teacher who doesn't really get immersion, or thinks it's just for high performing kids.  If you want to work on solving the issues at school, I think maybe you should, although I'm not sure tutoring is the solution for those issues, but I don't think it should make you reconsider immersion.[/quote]

Fox Mill JI Parent here. The K Teachers know the immersion program well, almost all of them have been at the school for a good period of time and they have a good grasp of the skills needed to succeed in the program. There are kids whose parents put their kids in the immersion program anyway and it works out fine. Many of the parents who choose to skip immersion do so because their kid is not catching onto reading or math in K. Math and Science are taught in Japanese so a kid who is struggling in math in K is going to be learning math in a new language. Also, the math and science in Japanese means less time practicing reading and writing in English.

The classes are pretty tightly run because the kids have to work in Japanese as well as all the regular material. It is not the easiest environment for a super active kid because there is more of a need to concentrate and listen. The JI English Teachers have a reputation for being strict and parents are warned about this at the information sessions and then again at the Open House.

JI tends to start with 30 kids in each group (60 total) in first grade and drops down to between 15-20 by sixth grade. Part of that is attrition, kids moving out of the area or moving to the Center for AAP, but part of that is kids moving to Gen Ed because the JI program isn’t working for them. The kids start memorizing the Hiragana in first grade and have weekly quizzes on 5 characters that they bring home. By the end of second grade they have memorized the Hiragana and Katakana and start working on Kanji.

We love the program but it is not easy. One of the reasons we like it is because it is challenging and we think that learning a second language is a good thing. [/quote]

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