Reply to CMI vs YY for PK3?

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "CMI vs YY for PK3?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's true, the retention rate is impressive. But as a native speaker with bilingual kids who left YY, I still see a time of reckoning for the school, after several years of IB Diploma Chinese results have been made public.

More than 80% of AP Chinese test takers score 5s, and the SAT II test is so easy that students with just two years of HS instruction can ace it. So elite colleges aren't bowled over by middle-class kids scoring 5s and 700s on American standardized tests for Chinese. Problem is, the way YY teaches spoken Mandarin means that it will be next to impossible for kids without native speakers in the home to score high on IBD Chinese, where immersion students are supposed to stand out.

I can't see middle-class DCI kids standing out in the pack for their Chinese in admissions to national universities, where they will be competing with many dual-immersion program grads (mainly from the West Coast). YY parents seem to assume that their kids will emerge as Chinese-speaking standouts in college admissions, but I can't see it. Out of earshot of YY pals, my kids jokingly call YY Mandarin "I-pod GPS Chinese."

Hint: pushing admins to train Mainland teachers to put far more emphasis on speaking, bringing back summer camp, and partnering with local programs with native speaking kids couldn't hurt. Launching into skeptics/critics may feel good, but it won't help.
[/quote]

We get it. Really, we do. I am 100 percent in favor of your recommendations, and I know that YY administrators are always trying to improve Chinese success. But for the last time, please realize that there are many YY parents who are not counting on YY to get our children into college, to score well on the Chinese IB diploma or to get a job. We just want our kids to have good exposure to foreign language and a nice, safe elementary school that prepares students to go on to middle school.

I am baffled by the former parents who continue to haunt the YY threads to badmouth its children.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics