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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Studies have also shown that little kids lose acquired language almost as easily as they pick it up.  Fine to start with toddlers and little kids, but not much use if they stop learning the language as older kids or teens.  If you're choosing a random language for your child to learn that won't be reinforced either at home or in your community, the results may not be too hot eventually.  Your kid may not see the point of continuing with the language once they have a say in the matter, since they don't have to speak it to get along.  I can hear the dip in my fully bilingual older kids' conversational ability in the language one of us speaks at home after they've been away at summer camp for a few weeks.[/quote]

[b]Depends on what the goal is, right?[/b][/quote]

Exactly.  The YY basher who posts the same thing on every YY thread (lots of jeering at the kids' language skills, says teachers talk about the head right in front of her, recommends MoCo language schools, etc.) assumes fluency is/should be the goal.  But there are other benefits--language exposure to set groundwork for future more intensive study, cognitive benefits, cultural exposure, stronger curriculum than IB school (perhaps especially for low SES families), etc.  I don't think anyone but perhaps PK3 parents believes their kids will be perfectly bilingual after YY, or other language schools for that matter.

-no affiliation with YY nor any interest in Mandarin[/quote]

No dog in this fight but I can't help but ask why we should settle for the tyranny of low expectations here in the District.  The other benefits aren't nearly as good as the real deal, kids speaking the language well after many years of immersion and partial immersion study.

If MoCo gets the job done, don't run down the posters who aspire to what MoCo can do.  Copy MoCo as best we can as a school system and be done with it.[/quote]

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