Different children have different language skills. My chatterbox 1st grader can listen to and understand Chinese children's programs and conversations, however he all but refuses to speak it to new people.

This is the OP, thanks to all that replied, especially 14:53. What a great, thought out response. Thank you.
I guess my biggest worry is that my DC will just feel completely lost and actually scared in a setting that is 100% Chinese everyday.
Are the teachers warm and reassuring. If there is crying are the kids comforted or is it more of a "buck up attitude".

We are really interested in building a community with whatever school we attend. Do the kids see each other outside of the school?
Are parents welcome as volunteers in the classrooms?

At what point can these kids hold conversations in Mandarin? My Mandarin speaking friend was asked to speak to our neighbor's kid who is in k now. He just had a blank stare on his face the whole time. My friend switched to a very basic discussion- what is your name, what color is your shirt, etc...- still nothing. This is not a shy kid whatsoever.

Thank you, PP, for this great description.

I have a PreK child, and the full immersion is no problem. DC was coming from an pre-school program that had some ESL students, so was already familiar with the concept of people speaking other languages.

The classes are small - 17 students & 2 teachers - and the families seem really nice. We've gone to a number of birthday parties, and so had the opportunity to interact with other parents and see the children interact as well. They seem to adore each other - a very close knit little group. I don't know very many parents names, but I hear so much about the other students and I can tell you all of THEIR names. This gives me insight into how comfortable the children are with school, with their class, with their teachers, and how happy and well-adjusted they are. That's important to me, because though I love watching the acquisition of Chinese, I also want to be re-assured that there is age-appropriate social, behavioral, and emotional development taking place as well.

Our student-led conference was today (it was a joy) so I learned more about the daily routine. My child gave us a walk-through of the day, and did various activities (math patterns, daily poems/songs, reading/writing, etc.) and then a short teacher-conference. I learned that at this point in the year, the expectation is now that they speak Chinese at snack and at lunch. My DC is a chatterbox, and his English skills are very advanced. This apparently necessitates frequent reminders to speak Chinese while in the classroom. The good-humored teasing from the lead teacher that she was going to do something unexpected and speak to him in English - but only for today, so the rules are still in place - was amusing. The discipline and classroom management is clear, and yet kind and gentle. DC gave her several hugs, and was squirming with happiness to watch his worlds (home and school) interact - all about him.

In terms of the activities, it was like visiting any other pre-school with a lot of cooperative play, counting games, daily songs, etc. except that it was in Chinese. It's pretty amazing to watch your 4 y.o. read aloud in Chinese and then draw a picture of what he just read (!), but you remind yourself that memorizing characters and decoding English phonetics are two distinct skills.

I agree with the above poster who said it's actually probably less disruptive than a 50/50 model, because there are fewer transitions - same teachers, same language, same classroom every day. We'll see what next year brings. I love PreK so much that right now I wish it could stay this way, I'm glowing with pleasure at everything YY offers him.

K parent here. My son was apprehensive about the Mandarin, but in the early months it didn't seem to affect his behavior at home.

From December to March of that first year, his behavior at home became really problematic. I bkamed the school and took steps to transfer him elsewhere. Then around the beginning of April it was like a switch had flipped, and he suddenly became far more cooperartive & mature.
We wound up going through a very similar experience starting this December, so now we know that's just his pattern. (Next year we'll be using a full-specrum light at breakfast, in case it's SAD.) I'm very glad I didn't pull him out after all.

The 50-50 model was hard for him to adjust to after the 100% Mandarin. Though he's ok with it now, I wish it were still 100%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree - when our PK3er went to language immersion (50/50) last year he was tired and cried at lot in the beginning. It was frankly awful for both of us, but improved weekly until he was happy to go after about six weeks. We came from a full-day daycare option and he is super social, so I was really surprised that he had such a tough transition.

K parent here. Our kid was ok from the beginning, just very shy to talk (and he is a very talkative kid in general) and we saw a lot of other kids crying in the beginning. I would say a month is about right--but it is not every kid of course or even the majority of kids. Still, if you don't like Ferber you might find it too much . We didn't see any evidence of lasting scars and ultimately the kids adapted really well. After a while it just seems normal to them and they go about their business. IMHO it actually works better than the old 50% model because they know what to expect every day. And it is just fantastic to see how good their Chinese gets.

Another K parent and I agree with pp. The full immersion seems much easier just b/c it has less transitions. In K, my kid likes English and Chinese equally and no complaints on either day which I attribute to preK being 100% Mandarin in preK. The kids are comfortable in BOTH languages. I actually wish K was 100% Mandarin also with 50/50 in 1st.

YY is collecting data on how the kids who had a full yr of immersion do in Mandarin vs those who had 50/50. Should be interesting.

Anonymous wrote:I agree - when our PK3er went to language immersion (50/50) last year he was tired and cried at lot in the beginning. It was frankly awful for both of us, but improved weekly until he was happy to go after about six weeks. We came from a full-day daycare option and he is super social, so I was really surprised that he had such a tough transition.

K parent here. Our kid was ok from the beginning, just very shy to talk (and he is a very talkative kid in general) and we saw a lot of other kids crying in the beginning. I would say a month is about right--but it is not every kid of course or even the majority of kids. Still, if you don't like Ferber you might find it too much . We didn't see any evidence of lasting scars and ultimately the kids adapted really well. After a while it just seems normal to them and they go about their business. IMHO it actually works better than the old 50% model because they know what to expect every day. And it is just fantastic to see how good their Chinese gets.

I agree - when our PK3er went to language immersion (50/50) last year he was tired and cried at lot in the beginning. It was frankly awful for both of us, but improved weekly until he was happy to go after about six weeks. We came from a full-day daycare option and he is super social, so I was really surprised that he had such a tough transition.

My DD went from a very small half-day play-based preschool to all-day DCPS preK-- not YY and not immersion. It was also a tough transition! No crying, but as the PP said, a LOT of crankiness, exhaustion, and acting out. It lasted about two months, and then she was into the schedule and loves school.
I'm sure the language makes it somewhat harder, but just wanted to throw out there that your DD may have an adjustment period no matter where she goes.

Very tough transition, lots of crankiness and bad behavior. They get tired.
Much better now. Could barely drag my kid out of school after today's student led conferences.

Not a yy parent here (also on WL): At the open house I went to I asked about this as my child can also be on the shy side and has had trouble with transitions. They said some kids do fine, some don't, some cry every day for a month (!!).

Crying every day for a month sounds to me like it would be traumatic for a four year old in their first real school setting. They were very nonchalant about it.

So, I'm also curious to hear from current parents on how the transition went!

Bump! Anyone?

i would like to know also...another parent with a good WL number for PK. I would also like to know how the families who do not know any mandrin are with the fact that their children will be learning so much that they can't communicate with them. Maybe this is not a problem at all, but would love feedback!

We are very lucky to have a great WL number that may end up getting a spot for next year. While I was impressed with the school as a whole and am very excited for Chinese-- I am worried about my quiet, shy 4 year old DD and complete immersion. She is coming from a very small play based preschool and I am concerned that she will have trouble adapting. Can any current preK parents share their stories of how their DC adapted to a full immersion program. Was it difficult? Did they enjoy and want to go to school or was it a struggle?
Did full immersion not work well for your DC and you left?