Reply to Spanish Immersion / Bilingual / Majority Native Spanish Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]what is important to realize is that having a large native speaking spanish class is helpful in terms of accent and conversational ability but it is not a road to high level spanish literacy ---- many of these immigrant families at DCPS bilingual schools have parents who do not read and write spanish well or at all.  Thjs is based on my interaction with them.[/quote]

I'm the PP who posted up the percentages, and I agree with your assessment of the facts, also based on first hand interaction.

But I think that, especially at the young ages, oral fluency is very important. It's like the 10,000 hours theory - more than anything your kids just need to spend countless hours speaking, thinking, interacting in Spanish. The less Spanish you speak at home, the more important the school day becomes.

High level literacy in Spanish, just like high level literacy in English, will honestly be a function of what you do at home... I do realize that can be a challenge if neither spouse speaks Spanish. But in any language a child's ability to read and write will mostly be determined by what the parents were able to accomplish at home at the younger ages. After that the school will build on it. None of these schools (DCPS or charter) is really teaching kids to read or write prior to K. They are teaching a variety of "pre-literacy" skills plus, in some cases, general life skills (eg Tools of the Mind). 
[/quote]

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