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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree. I think Yu Ying is a fabulous school, but I think the whole learn Chinese thing is a fad. Weren't kids desperate to learn Japanese before that? And then Russian?  I think it is great if you learn any foreign language, but this obsession with dialects is laughably pathetic. [/quote]

Hit send too fast. So my point is that the Chinese these kids are learning is more of a "expand your mind" and "choose to learn more" if needed. It is clear they are actually learning Chinese (not like whatever it is that they so at CMI), but I think obsessing over dialects and accents is a waste of time. If you want to speak with a perfect shanghainese accent, that's great!  However only your Chinese grandma will care.

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Sorry, but you're missing the point. No native speaker of Chinese grows up speaking the Mandarin taught at YY.  Even a so-called native Mandarin speaker speaks a sub-dialect quite different than textbook Mandarin at home.  I don't see where the "obsessing part comes in." Mainland Chinese don't consider other urban dialects "hillbilly" Chinese as asserted on this thread; they consider them dialects that did not become the national lingua franca for political reasons.

Kids who come into an immersion school speaking the target language (at whatever age, using whatever dialect) raise the bar and promote learning on the part of the non-speakers, and they raise it significantly. DCPS gets this, explaining Spanish dominant lotteries in their Spanish immersion elementary schools.  If even DCPS gets it, the point is obvious.  Yes, we know that the DC Public Charter Board is adamantly opposed to lotteries or test-in options for native speakers. What I wish YY parents and admins would research and discuss is why the majority of ethnic Chinese families whose little kids speak good Chinese don't apply to attend. Not true for the Spanish immersion charters.

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