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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]With or without parents going along on the trip, I highly doubt that the kids will be whipping out their Mandarin and practicing it with the locals.  When my DD went to France with her MS a few years ago, she said everyone stuck with their fellow Americans and talked in obvious English all the time.  They were just happy talking to their buddies about everyday things like songs and clothes, in France!  I asked her if she or her peers tried speaking French to French people, she said they spoke English to them if they were struggling coming up with the French words.  It was very much a cultural experience at best and not a language experience. It was not a language immersion class so I can't blame them.  With the language immersion class, I expect more language practice to happen, but then again, I am very skeptical about it.  Americans are very comfortable speaking English, here or there.  [/quote]

Exactly the point. I don't think YY kids are going to converse among themselves in Chinese just because they're in China. Besides their Chinese are not that good -- not good enough to have real conversations with the locals. Their Chinese is more text-book style. Since Mandarin is so fluid and locals have many different ways of expressing themselves, kids most likely can't have a true conversation. I don't think they would even comprehend what most tour guides say which will be in pretty formal and advanced form of Chinese, something the kids are not used to. Besides some tour guides will have regional accents that are different from Mandarin. [b][/quote]

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