Have several friends with children in Rolling Terrace. All have been very happy there.

Rolling Terrace is considered "partial immersion" because half the day is spent immersed in the Spanish language (as the above poster stated, math and science are taught in Spanish, full immersion kindergarten introduces the child to the language all day), whereas the other half of the day students switch teachers. Reading and writing is taught in English and the immersion students mix with the rest of the students in the school, which is a good thing.

My preference is the partial immersion since the children really learn to understand Spanish and are expected to speak it in the classroom (unless they use it outside of school they are unlikely to become completely fluent in it, though).

A drawback to full immersion might be that the first time they are exposed to "English" is in 6th grade, where all of a sudden they'll be expected to spell things correctly the first time they write an essay, never having had a spelling test or writing assignment in English. But probably Rock Creek Forest parents have a better take on this, how the students work on developing their English writing (and reading and comprehension) skills prior to middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have been quite a few posts about the RCF poster who is unsure whether to accept the slot. What do parents have to say about Rolling Terrace? I know it is partial immersion. Are there parents - or friends of parents - who can comment about the quality of education there?

The term "partial immersion" is a contradiction in terms. Immersion is complete, or it is not immersion at all.

No comment or knowledge of the quality of education.

???? So programs like Rolling Terrace, Washington International, Oyster, Stokes (in DC) etc . . . aren't "immersion" because the kids only spend 15 - 20 hours a week in the target language?

DS is at Rolling Terrace. Kindergarten is full immersion. After that, math is taught in Spanish through 5th grade. I'm sure DS doesn't have the same fluency as kids at RCF, but he has a good accent and very good comprehension of what he's being taught in Spanish. The math portion of the day also includes science. The students also read and do oral reports and a bit of writing. The RT Spanish immersion program continues at Silver Spring International Middle School. Many parents would probably choose RCF over RT if they had a chance because it's full immersion and feeds into Westland Middle School (and presumably BCC). We are actually very pleased with RT. It's a good fit for DS. The school also has a great atmosphere.

Anonymous wrote:There have been quite a few posts about the RCF poster who is unsure whether to accept the slot. What do parents have to say about Rolling Terrace? I know it is partial immersion. Are there parents - or friends of parents - who can comment about the quality of education there?

The term "partial immersion" is a contradiction in terms. Immersion is complete, or it is not immersion at all.

No comment or knowledge of the quality of education.

There have been quite a few posts about the RCF poster who is unsure whether to accept the slot. What do parents have to say about Rolling Terrace? I know it is partial immersion. Are there parents - or friends of parents - who can comment about the quality of education there?