Reply to Starting language immersion in 2nd grade

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In my experience as a spanish tutor this is an incredibly poor decision. I truly believe 1st grade is too late, and second and above is  borderline child abuse. I have never seen a child thrive in this situation. Sure sometimes they can muddle through- but is that what you want your kid to think about themselves?  Do you want to spend many thousands on enrichment, tutoring, etc?  I have yet to see a summer camp in this area that does a good job teaching spanish. They are essentially Spanish exposure. Changing all your screens to English works on toddlers, not on kids who can read and know how to switch them back. You’re going to teach your kid to look at the pictures and tune out the voices. Please don’t do this. If you go ahead and do it (and again, your kid will resent you) please set them up with a one on one tutor and in person group lessons.[/quote]
My kid started immersion in 2nd grade.  His mom and I both speak fluent Spanish.  By spring, he was speaking Spanish to people in Mexico.   Yes, it was tough.  He got annoyed that we spoke mostly Spanish to him for a couple of years.  But - by middle school, he like it when people struck up conversations with him in Ecuador to say how cool it was that we, as a non-native speaking family were speaking Spanish to one another and doing group tours and stuff in Spanish.  And by college, he worked entirely in and took classes in Spanish and had a professor ask what Spanish speaking country he grew up in.  [/quote]

This is not the same scenario.  OP and her household are not fluent in spanish.  Even your household, which is fluent in spanish, said it was tough and you got pushback from your kid with the spanish for years.

Also, I’m sure school was tough too in elementary because he didn’t know spanish and likely didn’t do as well as he could.

This is all from parents who are fluent.  Now imagine a household who is not fluent or with limited spanish who cannot just speak spanish 100% at home.[/quote]

Reading is fundamental. OP said “I am a fluent (but not native) speaker and would be able to assist.”

Also, I know you are keen to support you point, but making assumptions about other people’s kids is not a good idea.  I said my kid got annoyed when we spoke Spanish with him. “Pushback” is your invention.  My kid’s “pushback” consisted of answering us in English.  “Likely didn’t do as well as well as he could” is also you invention, and not correct.  He actually really enjoyed writing poetry in Spanish, and, in our case, found reading aloud in Spanish much easier than in English because it’s phonetic and he’s somewhat dyslexic.  By middle school, he was reading far above grade level in both languages, and getting As in subjects taught in both languages.  [/quote]

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