Reply to Segregation Is Coming

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The bottom line is that most of these children do not come from homes that foster academics and assimilation. My grandfather immigrated from Italy 100 years ago at age 7 and was instantly put into public school in the U.S. He knew zero English. But his family didn't immigrate to the U.S. for him to fail in school, so he picked it up.[/quote]

Even more recently, my good friend as a kid (who is now in her 30s) moved from Germany to the US in 2nd grade. She spoke no English whatsoever upon arrival but was speaking meaningfully within a month and fluent with virtually no accent by mid 3rd grade. I have family friends whose kids are in their teens who were stationed in Germany and sent their kids to German schools. They picked up the language and are fluent after being stationed there for 2 years.

Immersion has been shown time and time again to be the most effective way for kids to learn a language. ESOL students should 100% be in mainstream classrooms, there just needs to be stronger expectations that they pick up English for use at school and that also needs to be communicated to their families. [/quote]

Totally agree.

My young adult kid did a study abroad for a year.  Within 6 months they were fluent in the language, reading and writing.  It was complete immersion.

Kids pick it up even quicker.

We are doing a disservice to these non English speaking kids by not requiring them to speak English from the start.

Our acceptance and accommodation is setting them up for failure.[/quote]

I'm a big proponent of immersion, too, because I lived it. But I think it only works well when parents push their kids to be academically focused and can make themselves available to help, especially if they speak a little bit of English. I don't think it works for families that are having trouble making ends meet. Within a year, I was excelling in school, and in two years, I was part of the gifted program. But that would have never happened if my parents hadn't had the time to help me at home. I had to take all of my classwork home to complete because I understood nothing. On the weekends, my parents took us kids to the public library to check out books and practice reading. I had to look up EVERY word in the Spanish/English dictionary. It is not easy. Not everyone has support from their parents, either because they have to work multiple jobs to pay the bills or because they don't care much about academics.[/quote]

Not expecting kids to rise to the occasion and setting their bar to the lowest levels because of their ethnic background in the name of kindness and inclusivity is creating harm in the long run.[/quote]

Not really understanding what you mean. You think kids that don't speak English and whose parents can't help them at home should be expected to just rise to the occasion? It's not that easy, unless you're talking about kindergarteners or first graders. Kids that come into FCPS from other non-English speaking countries at older ages (2nd grade or above) are not going to do well if they don't have help at home. All of the other kids are reading.[/quote]

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