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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I simply don't see what the problem is with second language exposure from a young age, whether partial or full. I'm sorry but I'm just not worried about English language acquisition or success. I don't buy the Canadian academic's lecture above (and why is that person even on this board? snooping about the net much?). Exposure to a second language, whether fully acquired, practiced at home, or not, cannot be a problem unless perhaps the child has certain special needs. What I would give to have had that exposure before, say, high school. That child is not only learning language, they are learning multiculturalism and this is worth it. If the child is not writing and reading up to par by say, middle school, that's when to hire an English tutor. Not to fret about the value of immersion schools at a young age. This is a huge privilege of access to DC charters and it's no wonder the immersion schools have waitlists miles long. [/quote]

I'm with you, and the whole Trump Administration. To heck with evidence-based decisions. Honestly, don't fret about anything that's been researched, proven or published. I make a point of hiring multiculturalism majors before others myself, at the Taiwanese-run tech firm where I work. But wait, you don't have a kid enrolled in a DC charter immersion program whose target language you don't speak? Come now, where's your skin in the game? Where's your street cred?

Mile-long waitlists have a little something to do with neighborhood schools with proficiency pass rates in the teens, twenties, and, if you're lucky, thirties or forties, along with 7-figure prices for 3 and 4-bedroom renovated houses in the JKLM and Brent zones.[/quote]

There is plenty of data on the benefits of second languages for children. I'm sorry it doesn't fit whatever narrative you're pushing. The canadian takeaway was that there might be a cost in terms of native language proficiency (on university admission exams, maybe? can't remember). There isn't convincing evidence that there is active "harm" being done by these programs and there certainly are other benefits. This is one of the results of our school choice culture, right? JKLM parent made one choice; t[b]here are native Chinese speakers who have kids at YY[/b] and live in JKLM/Brent who have made a different choice. [/quote]

My narrative is high-performing immersion language programs in this city, as in my native California. [b]Former YY parent (we left four years ago, but keep up with most of the native speakers we got to know there). [/b]There are actually very few native Chinese speakers in the YY community (ABCs or Asian nationals who grew up speaking Chinese fluently). [b]By my count, there are no more than a dozen at any given time, and only around half speak their dialect to their children and require them to answer in Chinese[/b]. There are more Chinese native speakers at our DCPS, along with more kids who speak good Chinese at home.

YY mainly attracts parents from outside the Deal/Wilson District who sign up to get on a path to 12th grade at DCI, rather than for the Chinese. I understand their choice of YY and DCI in face of lousy DCPS options, but when PPs come to DCUM to defend the honor of the school claiming that most of the families take the immersion seriously, some of us challenge. YY could actually do a lot to improve outputs for spoken Chinese. For example, the school could threaten to bump all the kids who can't speak to a reasonably high standard off their immersion track and onto their non-immersion track, while offering strong speaking support to stragglers to raise standards, BASIS end-of-year comprehensive exams style. They could also offer summer immersion camp and full immersion after care to raise standards for speaking.

[b]When you enroll your kid in a public immersion Chinese program supported by your tax dollars only to discover that your 5 year-old speaks better Chinese than most of the 4th and 5th graders, something's wrong[/b].[/quote]

So you left four years ago, and yet claim to know how many native speakers are at YY.  Further, you claim to know what is spoken at home, and what is required of kids when spoken to in Chinese?  How could you possibly be so certain about this, unless you surveyed all families every year?

Look, I think you actually have some good points about things they could do better, such as offering additional support to stragglers, summer immersion camp, etc.  I have a child at a private immersion for another language that does these things; however, I'm not sure whether these same options are realistic for a charter school.  However, your repeated disparaging of a school you left basically ages ago seems odd.  Also, CA is a whole different animal than DC, so I don't think it makes you an expert on what will work in a completely different context with different demographics (I lived there too until fairly recently).

I have no connection to YY, other than knowing several families with kids who attend in my Deal/Wilson feeder neighborhood.

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