Reply to Yu Ying - Do/Can Non-Native Kids Actually SPEAK Chinese?

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Reply to " Yu Ying - Do/Can Non-Native Kids Actually SPEAK Chinese?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We come from a European country where children who aren't being raised bilingual by a native speaker of a language don't start learning a 2nd language in a govt school until age 8 or 9.  This approach is the norm in Europe. Educators understand the importance of gaining and developing literacy in one's native language before adding a 2nd language.  In DC, monolingual parents are often in a big rush for a kids to gain literacy in a 2nd language they can't reinforce at home.  We don't get it.[/quote]

+1  
I'm an American who lived in Europe for years and managed to learn plenty of languages despite not starting until 8th grade with my first.  Many of my European friends speak beautiful English (plus several other languages) despite not starting until 3rd grade or so.

Although I considered sending my child to an immersion program, I didn't want to choose one in a language I can't support at home (my Spanish is limited and Chinese/Hebrew is nonexistent), especially if that means commuting across town unnecessarily.  We are very happy with our neighborhood DCPS elementary school, where our child is getting a great education in English, with a bit of Spanish as well.  There will be plenty of opportunity to learn more languages as he gets older.

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