Reply to Has anyone's child become fluent in a language not spoken at home exclusively by learning in middle or high school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, but they went to a foreign language immersion private school since kindergarten. There’s also a foreign language public immersion school in our city. [/quote]

There’s usually a lottery to get into one of them they are so popular.   I had French lessons with a handful of students handpicked in elementary school.  Useless unless the student has a real ear for language, kind of like musical prodigies.  It’s immersion or it doesn’t work for the average student.  What I didn’t understand about one of the Spanish immersion elementary schools is 50% of them were primary Spanish speakers.  [b]That was just plain dumb when the slots were so limited. [/b] [/quote]

Excluding Spanish speakers from Spanish immersion is not only dumb but is also unbelievably unjust.

The kids from Spanish speaking families benefit the most from Spanish immersion because it gives them an opportunity to retain their heritage language, something that is not a given for them, believe it or not. It is not just an extra skill for them it is a connection to their families and communities. To deny this to them because you think only rich White kids deserve language immersion is gross and ridiculous. [/quote]

Half of my family is South American and most need to work on their English a lot more than their Spanish.  Some have their children go to language school on weekends to get better at reading and .writing in Spanish.   Between that and speaking Spanish only at home they are not losing their primary language.

I don’t know if you are close to any families who speak Spanish as their primary language but the parents and older relatives have a hard time learning English as adults.  Especially illegal immigrants who tend to work under the table with only other Spanish speakers.  It’s in the country’s best interests to have more Americans speaking Spanish as it’s the second most common language spoken in the US.  [/quote]

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