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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The same argument OP is making could literally be applied to any subject in school and boils down to opinions about what parental support of education looks like. As your child gets older, you will likely reach a point where you can't really help them with school subjects anymore. That threshold is different for everyone, of course. In most cases, it makes no sense for the parent to learn (or relearn) subjects to support their child. I'm not going to relearn pre-calculus to help my child--I'd rather he get help and support from someone who knows a lot more than me in that subject. Isn't the same true for languages? If I don't know how to speak a language but I want my kids to learn it, me learning the language is only going to go so far to help them--and in some cases might hinder them. But whether I learn how to sing a kid's song in that language--and will actually sing it in public--doesn't mean anything about my support for my child's language learning.

-A parent with kids in a language immersion school that has learned some of the language, including the birthday song, but has never spoken or sung the language in public[/quote]

I don't have a problem with someone who doesn't speak a language enrolling their kid in language immersion, but disagree that language immersion is no different than a parent not wanting to learn "new math" for 4th graders or not learning enough physics to tutor their high school student. Language immersion IS different, especially when we're talking about immersion at the ECE level, which is when most of these schools are actually doing true immersion.[/quote]

Ok, so how is it different? How is a parent who doesn’t speak the language going to help their child? [/quote]

People have mentioned numerous ways in this thread: providing media in the target language, gaining enough familiarity to support their kid's immersion (not becoming fluent but making some effort to learn the basics so they can engage with their kid regarding the language), hiring sitters/nannies who speak the language, pursuing experiences in the target language (from travel to music classes and everything in between), etc.

A lot of parents with kids in early years immersion (and many with kids in later years immersion) do some or all of the above. Meanwhile, almost no one is doing this much to support their kid's in HS-level science or math classes. So yes, immersion is different.[/quote]

lol, wait until you get to middle and upper elementary and see how far that gets you. Unless you can afford an au pair or summers abroad, it’s up to your kid whether they want to put in the extra effort to get past little kid fluency. [/quote]

I mean, the comment was specifically about how supporting actual immersion in the early grades is different from supporting kids in other subjects in upper grades. There are no public school programs in DC that do true immersion past 1st or 2nd anyway -- by middle elementary their core subjects are in English. So we are mostly talking about how parents can support it at the ECE+ level.

However, I just want to note that you don't have to be able to afford an au pair or summers abroad to support lots of Spanish exposure in the US. A middle class family can afford trips to Central America or the Caribbean here and there, and there are TONS of opportunities for things like Spanish-language camps and groups. So at least with Spanish, it honestly would not be that hard for a committed family to continue to support in this way into upper elementary and middle school, assuming MC or UMC.[/quote]

The privilege in this post is astounding. No, PP, not all middle class families can afford international travel “here and there,” let alone long enough and frequently enough for it to make a bit of difference.

And please name those tons of camps and groups in DC. There are plenty of Spanish exposure camps in DC, like Casa Lala, Salsa with Silvia, etc., but none of those camps are immersion and make your child speak in Spanish. And those camps are wildly expensive, and boring for older kids that have developed their own interests.

But please do share those camps and groups. If they’re so plentiful and accessible as you suggest, we’d love the recommendations.[/quote]

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