Reply to CMI vs YY for PK3?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Whoah, weaknesses in Mandarin are not "easily correctible" at any age (says the musically talented ABC who speaks two dialects and reads OK, after attending heritage schools on Fri nights from K-12). I even spent a college year at a Chinese univ in a full immersion program without emerging as fluent in either dialect. In our experience, YY only gives good or excellent grades in speaking. Admins know that, with only a handful of true native-speaking kids in the school, speaking Mandarin is tied to SES: money for Chinese au pairs (native speakers without local grandparents often host them), tutors and immersion summer camps, preferably in China. Admins tell the Chinese teachers that it's unfair to grade kids down for speaking/listening ability, so they don't.  [/quote]

That sounds appropriate to me.[/quote]

Some of us would prefer a more serious language program, working around limitations imposed by federal charter law, than what's "appropriate." YY could offer summer immersion camps with fees on a sliding scale. Many parents would happily pay. They could also start testing alleged heritage speakers for speaking ability on arrival and publishing the results. MoCo is doing all this.[/quote]

I love it when people suggest what another enterprise should just "offer."  Have you created a business plan?  What's the curriculum?  What's the staffing model?  How many students will enroll (lower bound, estimated mean, upper bound)?  What will be the costs and what's the price structure?

You realize that you're talking about creating a private program within a public school, right?  This isn't an extension of what Yu Ying currently offers - that's a state-funded (or district-funded) model.  This is entirely different.  Nice that MoCo does it, have you considered moving there?  Because DC does not.  What's your proposal?  What are the specifics?

If it's so easy, then you should have something in mind.  Let's hear it.[/quote]

Ummmm...a lot of DC charters have summer camps so I don't think this idea is all that crazy...[/quote]

Really?  That's splendid!  Tell us please which DC charters run a "summer immersion camp"?  The sort which might be described as "more serious language program, working around limitations imposed by federal charter law"?  The sort for which "many parents would happily pay"?[/quote]

Mundo Verde runs a full-day K-4th grade summer camp program for three weeks. Parents pay on a sliding scale. The school doesn't stop at handing out good grades for Spanish when kids can hardly speak or understand. Honestly, no language but Spanish is taught via "immersion" in this city.  Learning a language 2 1/2 days a week only from teachers alone for around 8 months a year isn't immersion. Sounds good, but isn't. No wonder more and more parents pay to supplement. We've been hosting Chinese au pairs for years. YY parents often approach us to ask if our current au pair can tutor - more do this with each passing year. Our au pairs sometimes make more tutoring than we pay 'em as per State Dept. rules. The YY parents organization should fundraise to help pay tutors.[/quote]

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