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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Monolingual DC language immersion parents I talk don't get it.   They think that picking up and retaining languages is a snap for kids.
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You must not have talked to us because no that is not how we think.  We talked extensively to current parents at immersion schools outside of DC and also adult friends who attended language immersion schools growing up before we made the decision for our DC to be at a Spanish immersion charter.

We know going in that it would be challenging.  We have engaged outside support in addition to summer immersion camps, plans for vacation travel to Spanish speaking countries, and once DC is older, summer camps abroad in Spanish speaking countries.

We are far from the only family doing this at our charter.[/quote]

Great, you have the drive and resources to make the most of immersion for your child(ren) in the long-term, although, from the sounds of it, you don't speak Spanish at home. But you're not in the majority doing this at any DC immersion charter. The only bona fide two-way immersion program in DC is found at Oyster. But as Oyster's in-boundary population becomes more white/high SES, the Latino population of the school drops, hurting the immersion experience. The fact is, a great many DC charter immersion parents are mainly running away from low-performing in-boundary schools. They're much less serious about immersion study than you, and/or don't have the resources to support serious immersion study. DC charter does little to help low SES families support immersion outside of the classroom, unlike MoCo, where low SES immersion students are routinely sent to free or low-cost summer immersion camps.

We speak a language taught in a DC charter, and at DCI, at home (not Spanish). When we speak to upper grades elementary school students who attend this charter in the target language, and some of the most advanced DCI students studying it, we're seldom remotely impressed. We used to volunteer at school events once in a while but stopped. The whole arrangement was just too silly.[/quote]

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