Reply to Yu Ying (and immersion programs in general)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These threads seem to gravitate toward the idea that if a child doesn't become totally fluent, immersion programs aren't worth it. In my opinion, the exposure is fantastic for a kid regardless of the degree of fluency. I started French when I was 8 and didn't have anything like immersion, but taking those classes gave me a facility in French that I was able to develop as an adult, and a general comfort with learning languages that opened a lot of doors for me in my life. So as a parent of a child in an immersion school, I'm not that concerned about whether my kid is fluent by 5th grade -- I am just happy that he will have this tool in his arsenal. [/quote]

Thank you!  That ex-YY poster seems to feel that all is for naught if kids aren't 100% bilingual by middle school.  I think the consistent exposure to another language and culture is wonderful for various reasons even if full fluency is not reached.  Some of these kids may go and to do more language study, study abroad, etc. in high school and beyond.  And there still may be cognitive benefits to early exposure even if they don't continue to pursue the language after YY.  So for their families, it may be worth it nonetheless.[/quote]

Also agree with this. Our kids have done very well at YY, and get 99% on MAP, PARCC etc. So the education is fine. Anyone thinking their kids will be fluent is missing the boat--it is no secret that immersion only works if there are enough native speakers, [b]and this will never happen in a lottery system with so few Mandarin speaking kids in DC[/b]. But, this much exposure to Chinese (or any foreign language) is great in all sorts of ways. [/quote]

Don't agree that the dearth of Mandarin speaking kids is the real problem. Standards for language learning in the DCI feeders just aren't high. Taking the immersion seriously is presented as optional to families from the get go. The charters fork out for fancier and fancier facilities (gardens etc.) rather than full immersion experiences, e.g. summer camps. There's no push for the kids to speak well, and little effort to develop ties with DC immigrant communities speaking the languages and celebrating the cultures taught. Hiring admins who don't speak the languages of immersion is acceptable. Many parents would work harder at immersion if they were expected to.[/quote]

Charters in DC are supposed to first and foremost be schools that do better than traditional public schools and get more kids to proficiency or better on PARCC (used to be DC CAS).

They are not at all judged by the charter board or anyone else on fluency or biliteracy. We can debate whether that is a good or a bad thing, but target language fluency and literacy are seen as icing on the cake, something that is nice to have in addition to the core education in English.
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